short takes (2)

Tonight in New York, the Museum of Modern Art is launching a film series called Of Light and Texture: Andrew Noren and James Herbert, comprising several works by these highly regarded experimentalists. The similarities between Noren and Herbert are strong -- both explore the quality of light as captured by film, and the texture of the film frame itself.Like many painters, they often use nude figures as starting material, tranforming them and their surroundings into elements of complex compositions more concerned with formal structure than with action or character. Included will be a new work by Herbert, as yet untitled, and Noren's soaring "Charmed Particles," the latest episode in his ongoing visual exploration.