Andy Moses, “Into the Light”

by Liz Goldner

Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California

Continuing through September 20, 2026

Andy Moses, “The Deep,” 2005, acrylic on canvas over concave wood panel, 54 x 100 x 5”. All images courtesy of the artist.

Viewing these dozen paintings by Andy Moses is to share in an aesthetic vision that looks at how art can affect and shape our own visual perceptions. The work addresses the relationship between abstraction and landscape, and is achieved through broad sweeping brushstrokes, often inspired by the Pacific Ocean near where the artist grew up.

Living by the water, watching the colors and light in the atmosphere had a profound effect on Moses. As a budding artist, he decided to build paintings that feel alive and animated, to have viewers to see their colors and tonalities change, while using their imaginations to connect them back to nature. He employs pearlescent paints, which contain tiny mica flakes that cause the colors to shift slightly or change appearance based on the viewing angle. He also thins the acrylic paint down “to the consistency between milk and a milk shake,” then uses an elaborate technique of tilting the canvasses, causing the paint to flow, creating the feeling of spontaneity in the finished pieces.

Andy Moses, “Permian Basin,” 2010, acrylic on canvas over concave parabolic wood panel, 45 x 90 x 4 1/2”.

Often working with concave canvasses, Moses produces works that simulate, “looking out from the water and seeing the curve in the horizon and the light dancing on both the water and sky,” he explains. He also began visiting the California desert two decades ago, observing the horizons and the play of light on both land and sky. “I really think of these paintings as a way of representing this sense of universal horizons, but they are still very much about color and gesture leading back to abstraction.”

The earliest painting here is the tondo “Beyond the Cirrostratus” (2003). As the only all white pearlescent painting in the show, it is a shimmering example of paint attracting and reflecting the light in the room, becoming a spiritual mirror.

Andy Moses, “Boreas,” 2011, acrylic on canvas over concave parabolic wood panel, 45 x 90 x 4 1/2”.

“Siren Song” and “The Deep” (both 2005), comprised of deep blues and grays with striations of green on concave canvasses, are among Moses’ earlier representations of the atmosphere, looking out toward the ocean. Aesthetically minimalist, they are examples of his early forays into using paint, rather than reflective industrial materials, to capture the spirit of Southern California’s 1960s and 70s Light and Space art movement.

Moses grew up in a SoCal community of Light and Space artists who worked with resin, glass, neon and other materials to reflect in their art the shimmering aspects of the area’s celebrated sunsets and seashore atmosphere. Inspired by this powerful art movement, Moses’s creative practice evolved towards paintings that employed the medium itself with its shifting colors, his technique of pouring the paint, and his shaped canvasses. His body of work creates similar effects to those of the original Light and Space era as it emerged more than 50 years ago.

Andy Moses, “Geomorphology 1601,” 2022, acrylic on canvas over concave wood panel, 57 x 90 x 5”.

“Permian Basin” (2010), executed on a concave parabolic wood panel, demonstrates the artist’s evolution in his pouring technique to create spontaneous striations. In various shades of red and blue, the painting evokes a brilliant desert sunset. The similar “Boreas” (2011) emphasizes the artist’s penchant for experimenting with color that simultaneously affects our perception, mood, and imagination.

“Geomorphology 1601” (2022) features primarily golden hues with secondary shades of light blue and pink. A highlight of the neighboring Frank Cuprien exhibition, his painting “The Golden Hour, Laguna Beach” (c. 1923), with its depiction of golden waves rippling into the shore at dusk, could have inspired Moses’ work of a century later.

Andy Moses, "Geodesy 1008," 2024, acrylic on canvas over circular wood panel, 48" diameter.

Two recent circular works, “Geodesy 1228” (2022) and “Geodesy 1008” (2024) display Moses’ continuing ability to creating deftly designed vortex-like images that draw the eye towards their centers. Their stunning designs demonstrate his penchant to risk optical experimentation, rather than repeating the style of paintings that were already popular. 

Altogether the 12 paintings in the show, rounded out with the mountainous “Metamorph 1502” (2017), create a visual chorus of works that metaphorically sing together in harmony.

Liz Goldner is an award-winning art writer based in Laguna Beach. She has contributed to the LA Times, LA Weekly, KCET Artbound, Artillery, AICA-USA Magazine, Orange County Register, Art Ltd. and several other print and online publications. She has written reviews for ArtScene and Visual Art Source since 2009. 

Liz Goldner’s Website.