Pasha Rafat explores the light properties of individual gases contained in glass tubes such as neon, argon, krypton and helium. Rafat uses these gas tubings as sources of light and sculpture, which are often viewed in various architectural settings creating an atmospheric environment. These light sculptures in their repetition of form often create an ephemeral and a physically present character of light.

Influenced by the ideas/objects of the Russian constructivists for sometime, Pasha Rafat’s recent light sculptures echo the early 20th Century artists whose interests lay in real and physical material, rather than the illusory. The Russian Constructivists articulated and stressed the transparency of material and production, creating a new pictorial language. Through interplaying with geometric shapes of squares and circles, these light sculptures are depicted within the space with no horizon (up and down). Gravity in these works, acts as a force of attraction, functioning through space in all directions. Rafat’s recent work also demonstrate the influence of Minimalist Dan Flavin and Southern California’s “light & space” artist Robert Irwin, who explored the perceptual, spatial and atmospheric aspects of art.

Born in Tehran, Iran, Rafat lives and works in Las Vegas and teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.