Saturday 20 April 2019 – Sunday 26 July 2020

Perceptual Reversal is a newly commissioned installation by contemporary glass artist Madisyn Zabel. The work builds on Zabel's current rationale, which explores the relationships between three-dimensional objects and their two-dimensional interpretations in glass and mixed media. This body of work investigates ‘perceptual reversal’, the visual phenomena in which an image or pattern is too ambiguous for the human eye to distinguish on clear interpretation.

Zabel's practice uses glass sculpturally in a contemporary art context and centres upon visual perception and dimensionality. She creates pieces that juxtapose elements of volume and flatness through the combination of solid cast/cold worked glass forms with mixed media. Utilising geometry as a starting point, Zabel creates illusions of depth and flatness. The internal structures of these forms are reimagined then fabrication using media to create implied shadows that project into space using the digital renderings of the glass.

Perceptual Reversal explores these themes through large-scale glass and metal sculptures. By combining the glass with their two-dimensional metal interpretations, this work explores the possibilities of shifting perception within and between object and drawing.

Perceptual Reversal is commissioned by the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery with generous support from Australia Council for the Arts, Capital Arts Patrons Organisation (CAPO) and Canberra Glassworks.