What happens when surfaces glitter, gleam, sparkle, and shine? Radiance, that quality of projected light we associate so often with the marvelous and the modern, is subverted by the relationship between the quality of a surface and what it covers, reflects, or contains. Surface is the point of contact for the body, it’s skin and texture and touch. The glistening, shining surfaces of works in this exhibition manipulate the viewer’s perception of dimension through reflections and refractions, thereby un-forming the object and making the familiar strange. They layer the surface substances that gloss the world we know, offering glimmers of a radiant reality where light becomes, not truth illuminated, but something else.
Organized and circulated by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Peterborough and the McIntosh Gallery. Curated by Ruth Jones and Sam Mogelonsky.
Art-making activity: Build a Bug, inspired by contemporary artist Cole Swanson
Art-making activity: Extraordinary Drawing, inspired by contemporary artists The Broadbent Sisters