Life > November 1, 2007

By Elliot Engstrom | Asst. news editor

The concept of an art exhibit can sometimes be daunting, simply because some of us can stare at a piece for hours and still just not get it.

However, every once in awhile an exhibit comes through that everyone, art scholars included, can enjoy.

A classic example is the “Optical Allusions” exhibition going on now in the Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery in Scales Fine Art Center.

Whether you are an art guru or not, the exhibit is both interesting and fun.

When visitors first walk in, they will come across a miniature greenhouse with shadows fluttering across the surface.

At first one might think it is simply some kind of special light turning in circles inside the greenhouse.

However, upon closer inspection, one sees that each shadow is extremely insect-like and moves completely randomly. No discernible pattern can be determined. Perhaps the lighting is run by some sort of advanced computer program.

To the contrary, the shapes are the enlarged shadows of live sea monkeys in several tanks inside of the greenhouse.

Lights shine from under the tanks, and therefore cast the shadows onto the exterior of the greenhouse from within.

The piece by Ted Victoria, entitled “Is Anyone Home?” can easily captivate viewers as it is constantly changing and flowing in a completely random pattern.

On the wall across from the miniature greenhouse, it is impossible to miss what at first appears to simply be 4,000 bottle caps stuck on the wall.

However, further examination reveals that the inside of every bottle cap is painted to look like the iris and pupil of a human eye and in astonishingly realistic fashion.

So, instead of looking at 4,000 bottle caps, one feels as though they are looking into 2,000 pairs of eyes.

The piece by Eung Ho Park, a Korean immigrant, is entitled “I’m Looking at You,” and works to express the artist’s belief in the importance of individuality.

The next piece, entitled “Heaven” by Richard Klein, does appear heavenly. The piece consists of wine glasses hanging upside down off of the wall of the gallery.

There is not even a special light shining down on the piece. However, the ceiling lights shine down through the glasses and cast mystical shadows on the wall, which truly do appear heavenly.

Klein clearly has a talent for taking ordinary objects and producing something extraordinary.

Klein continues to utilize this concept in his piece “Two Trains (for D.F.)” The piece consists of two parts, which appear to be two mail boxes sticking off of the wall.

However, the mail boxes are constructed entirely out of used eyeglasses, brass and oil paint.

Both mail boxes and eyeglasses are quite ordinary objects. However, a mail box constructed purely of glass lenses is a sight to behold.

The final highlight of the exhibit is entitled “‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky,” by Caroline Cox. The piece is simply dozens of pieces of glass hanging from the ceiling, while elegantly refracting light in numerous directions.

The refracted light is then reflected off of neighboring pieces of glass, producing a picture that truly seems analogous with a picturesque ideal of heaven.

It is quite interesting to learn that this heavenly-looking piece consists of glass lenses, net pouches, paint, mirrors, trolling lures, mono-filament, chandelier crystals, acrylic balls and floats.

Cox, like Klein, shows the ability to take ordinary objects and make them into something extraordinary.