Bill Culbert
Strait, Darkside, 2014
Auckland, New zealand
fluorescent light, electrical cords, black plastic bottles
33 × 120 × 11 cm
Bill Culbert’s Strait, Darkside is a luminous meditation on light, materiality, and transformation. Using fluorescent tubes entwined with electrical cords and repurposed black plastic bottles, Culbert breathes new life into everyday objects, revealing their hidden poetry and unexpected beauty.
The work’s horizontal form and measured scale evoke a quiet tension - between the harsh artificial glow of industrial light and the humble, discarded bottles that anchor it. The interplay of light and shadow casts reflections that shift with the viewer’s perspective, inviting a slow, contemplative experience.
Black on White V, 2004
Auckland, New zealand
Fluorescent Lights, Electrical Cords, Plastic Bottles, Acrylic Paint
58 X 62 X 13cm
Bill Culbert’s Black on White V brings together minimalist sculpture and light-based alchemy. A grid of four plastic bottles - two painted black, two left translucent - are threaded with fluorescent tubes, each element both holding and emitting specific tones of luminosity. This work recalls Culbert’s broader inquiry into the “physics and metaphysics of light,” where containers become modules in a subtle choreography of shadow and glow
Set in pristine condition, the plastic vessels - strictly industrial and ordinary - are activated by their own illumination. The black-painted forms arrest light while their clear counterparts become vessels of internal radiance, offering both contrast and harmony. The result is a poetic pause: a minimalist object that feels alive, tactile and quietly symbolic. It reflects Culbert’s lifelong fascination with how everyday materials can transcend their functional origins and speak of natural phenomena and human perception