“…I think it might be helpful in your full appreciation of him, if I could tell you a little bit more about him and, what I perceive to be, his place in contemporary art.
 
Rockne Krebs is both a pioneer of laser art and a master of contemporary environmental sculpture.
 
He was one of the first artists to recognize the potential of lasers as an art tool, a modern-day counterpart to charcoal, pen or pencil for drawing in space. The first commercial laser was only available in 1960; Rockne experimented with his first indoor pieces in 1967 and since that time –some 20 years—has produced spectacular projects in cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia and his home-base in Washington, DC.
 
But Krebs is not exclusively interested in lasers as he would be the first to tell you. He has also worked with sun-light and star-light using prisms and ‘camera obscura’; Rockne in fact has much in common with other contemporary artists concerned with enhancing our perceptions of the environment through the manipulation of natural and artificial light: I am thinking of artists like Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Charles Ross and Dale Eldred…

His work, as you have seen it demonstrated in Neo-Green is extremely complex. Like other large-scale environmental artworks such as Christo’s Running Fence, it involves the orchestration of expensive equipment, many workers, paid and volunteer, and the negotiation of special permits…in the case from the FAA, and the City of Rochester.
 
Despite all the preparations for Neo-Green which have extended over many months, the result is not a sure thing; because it is an artwork existing in real time, and over real-time, it is full of risk. The lasers may malfunction, the atmosphere may not be perfect (and it requires a certain amount of particulate matter to be seen). The lasers and mirrors have to be constantly adjusted, and in fact, as soon as Rockne is through with the lecture, that is exactly what he will be doing.
 
Finally, and this is what makes it particularly contemporary: the work is ephemeral. It is like a stage performance which after Saturday will exist only in our memory, and in the few preparatory drawings that Rockne has created for it. For most of us, however, the visual traces of those laser beams, delicate and evanescent in the night, weaving their web of magic over the Gallery, linking it visually and symbolically with the downtown and the University, these will be indelibly imprinted in our mind…and we will probably never experience this space without remembering them.
 
And now, finally, I want to introduce you to this hard-working magician, who has certainly done his part in making our [museum] reopening such a success. Please welcome…”
 ~ Penny Knowles, Associate Director for Curatorial and Educational Affairs, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, 1987. Excerpts from her introduction.

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