Shadows and Light

Light is essential to visual art. Even a lack of light can shape an artwork’s colour, texture and form. Shadows and light can set a mood, tell a story. They conceal, reflect, reveal. For some artists, they’re tools and materials in their own right.

Many of our sculptures at YSP harness daylight in fascinating, at times glistening, ways. Some play with the way light falls. Others might make us think about the symbolism of light and darkness.

Follow our guide to encounter a selection of these artworks in our grounds. As the hours pass and the seasons change, you'll find that these sculptures never quite stay the same.

The view through a square hole in the roof of Skyspace, showing a blue sky with clouds and airplane trails

James Turrell: Deer Shelter Skyspace

James Turrell creates a magical, mindful experience out of something so ordinary as daylight. Each of his Skyspaces around the world frames the same thing: the sky. But, of course, the sky is never quite the same. Dawn to sunset, autumn to spring, sunshine to storm – light and shadows constantly shift. Clouds pass over, time moves, and for the moment you're in here, all you can do is look up and watch.

Looking up towards a tall pointed tower, with glass panels

Kimsooja: A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir

Kimsooja’s elegant tower creates an impression from all perspectives – particularly when the sun beats down on it. At a distance, it’s a radiant beacon on the landscape, casting a dramatic, pointed shadow. Up close, its surface shimmers like a butterfly’s wing. Closer still, a mirror within transports you both down into the earth and up into the sky.

Andy Goldsworthy: Shadow Stone Fold

A sculpture with a function. This working sheep fold is a collaboration between the artist and a farmer who uses it to manage their flock in YSP’s Country Park. Within is a slab of stone that, during rain or snow, you’re invited to lie on and leave behind your own ‘shadow.’

Barbara Hepworth: Squares with Two Circles

Barbara Hepworth was keen for her work to be ‘allowed to breathe’ outdoors. In this way, Square with Two Circles comes alive in large part thanks to the nature that surrounds it on YSP's Hillside. Its circular windows make the landscape and light beyond part of the artwork. Depending on the time of day and year, it casts shadows and reflects sunlight in ever-changing ways.

Ursula von Rydingsvard: Damski Czepek

Inviting yet secretive, this cave-like sculpture echoes some of the historic follies on YSP's grounds, like the Shell Grotto. It changes with the weather – at times radiating sunlight; at others appearing hazy. This mysterious, unpredictable nature is all part of the artwork’s appeal.

Two rusting steel cell sculptures surrounded by autumnal leaves.

Alfredo Jaar: The Garden of Good and Evil

Alfredo Jaar's work makes powerful, political statements. Here, his steel cells represent the CIA's secret detention facilities like Guantanamo Bay. Partly obscured by trees and water, they highlight the hidden nature of these sites. Symbolically, they cast a dark shadow on this otherwise peaceful landscape.

Anthony Caro: Promenade

Anthony Caro had a name for his works like this: sculpitecture – sitting at the place where sculpture meets architecture. This piece creates both the abstract impression of a parade and the sense of structures to explore, complete with nooks and hiding places. On the Bloomberg app, listen to artist Jill McKnight's take on Promenade. For Jill, the sculpture reminds her of seaside architecture, with its shadows suggesting places to shelter.