The Light and Space movement—also dubbed “California Minimalism”—began on the West Coast in the 1960s, when artists Peter Alexander, Robert Irwin, and James Turrell turned colored light, fluorescence, and light refractions into pure expression. Although many see the rise of the art form as a response to the misted atmosphere of Los Angeles, on the other side of the country New York minimalist Dan Flavin was working similarly. “Bending Light” brings the era’s pioneers together, placing their installations side by side—variations on a theme of luminosity. —E.C.