Perception is Everything

A new exhibition of work by Emil Lukas at Sperone Westwater gallery in New York shows the Pennsylvania artist using surprising materials to manipulate perception. “Liquid Lens,” a 2016 sculpture made from aluminum tubes, anchors the show. Despite its heft, the work, a curving cluster of metal pieces, seems to disappear from some angles. The exhibition also includes the artist’s work made from thread stretched across frames and paintings made from cast bubble wrap. It opens with four of his “Stacks,” towers of individual completed works laid horizontally on top of one another. Lukas recently took Surface on a tour of the exhibition, which runs through Feb. 11, and explained why he makes work that resists attempts to apprehend its true shape and depth.