Thinking About the Use of Light in Art

Every day and every place that I am at, some how light is their. However, their are certain and situations that light plays a big roll. In many conditions, people tend to use light to catch others attention or sometimes a small amount of light to emphasize something. I have seen many pieces of art that contains a small area of light from the corner of your eye, or other artworks where the art is surrounded by light and other objects. I remember when I went to a play and there was one huge spotlight on the main character and the other small characters were just in the background. This told me that the light was pointing out the importance of that one person and how she stood out from the rest of her crew. Another time where light played a large role was when I was looking at this random painting and there was this pathway that was lit up and then when you looked on from the path, you saw darkness. Many questions popped up in my head and it made me wonder what how light can be symbolic in a work of art. Then I knew that when an artist puts a cast of light it means that they are emphasizing a portion of their picture and the light is playing a major theme in their artwork.