Playing delicately with the recognizable and the alien, Raphael Cornford and Luke Wilson created an experience for viewers that allowed them to question constructions of self, society, other, and familiar.
Raphael Cornford and Luke Wilson collaborated across multiple media to create a literal world for the viewer to enter, transforming the gallery space completely. Beginning with Luke's sculptural work, the viewers were confronted with an unfamiliar and alien landscape manufactured from metal, rocks, sand, paper, wax, plastic, paint, and found materials. Luke Wilson's sculptures seek to emulate the delicate and infinitely complex patterns of natural growth through meticulous material manipulation. The complete transformation of the gallery space into a believable landscape created an unnerving blend of familiar and unfamiliar, setting up the transition into Raphael's stark, immaculate spacestation installation.
As the viewers stepped through the sliding door, they were greeted by dazzling lights in an all silver room with a giant silver spaceship hanging in the center. The austerity and uniformity of the space contrasted sharply with the busy intricacy of both Luke's sculptures and Raphael's prints, which depict multiple alien worlds, including what appears to be earth. Aliens, as we conceive of them, are idealized, accentuated, or demonized aspects of the self or society, a point made illustrated by the fogged mirrors reflecting light and muted form across the silver interior.
Raphael Cornford and Luke Wilson both work with new and old technology across various media and continue to enjoy a productive collaborative relationship.
Raphael Cornford and Luke Wilson collaborated across multiple media to create a literal world for the viewer to enter, transforming the gallery space completely. Beginning with Luke's sculptural work, the viewers were confronted with an unfamiliar and alien landscape manufactured from metal, rocks, sand, paper, wax, plastic, paint, and found materials. Luke Wilson's sculptures seek to emulate the delicate and infinitely complex patterns of natural growth through meticulous material manipulation. The complete transformation of the gallery space into a believable landscape created an unnerving blend of familiar and unfamiliar, setting up the transition into Raphael's stark, immaculate spacestation installation.
As the viewers stepped through the sliding door, they were greeted by dazzling lights in an all silver room with a giant silver spaceship hanging in the center. The austerity and uniformity of the space contrasted sharply with the busy intricacy of both Luke's sculptures and Raphael's prints, which depict multiple alien worlds, including what appears to be earth. Aliens, as we conceive of them, are idealized, accentuated, or demonized aspects of the self or society, a point made illustrated by the fogged mirrors reflecting light and muted form across the silver interior.
Raphael Cornford and Luke Wilson both work with new and old technology across various media and continue to enjoy a productive collaborative relationship.
Photos by Marnie Sehayek