Chris Engman’s Constructed Sculptures Play With Perception
- Words
- Anna Dorothea Ker
American artist and photographer Chris Engman constructs sculptures that distort the viewer’s perception and call into question the meaning of reality. Working with wood, mirrors and power tools, Engman carefully scouts out locations in which to build his optical illusion structures. The artist, who has been exhibited across the US and Europe, says, “[These works] are visualized expressions of ways of ordering the world. They are internally consistent, but in the end they are (and feel) empty. It is the emptiness I am attracted to. Logic, it seems to me, can be beautiful even when built upon nothing at all. This is, perhaps, the central ethos of my project as an artist.”
All images © courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles