Refraction is the distortion that takes place when light moves through different substances. Rob Wynne’s current exhibition AFTERGLOW presents a survey of the artist’s work which hinges on this brief moment when the unexpected seems to happen, and the rules are slightly but noticeably altered—literally bent. Most of the works are predicated on light: liquid mirrors conjure quicksilver loops and words, while photograms capture the recognizable forms of insects and sundry creatures in a state of sublimation. But refraction in Wynne’s hands can be textual as well. Small variations in the spelling of words placed side by side can yield this same inscrutable hairline fracture between what we thought we knew or saw versus what’s actually there.
September 23, 2023
