Normal, IL
Somewhere in between the reverential still-life paintings of Giorgio Morandi, the artful photographs of Barbara Kasten, the churchly glow of stained glass and the architectural fun of children’s Magna-Tiles lies a series of pictures by Justine Kaszynski. The artist sets up situations in her studio involving glass of all sorts—colored, mottled, beveled, dirty, mirrored, blocks—then adds light to the mix. (If your subject is glass, it is also by default light.) The results can be hard to decipher, like looking into multiple mirrors at once, and that is part of the pleasure. These are easy, recognizable tricks that anyone can do at home, simply by noticing when a sunbeam catches airborne dust then bends in a glass of iced hibiscus tea and comes out pink in a different direction. But wonders are easy to ignore or forget; we need not just scientists but also artists like Kaszynski to help us remember.
—Lori Waxman 3/25/16 4:01 PM