At the heart of Emil Lukas’ work is a quest to slow down seeing, reclaiming our ability to savor the visual world we move and live in. Born in Pittsburgh in 1964, Lukas is best known for wall-bound “paintings” crisscrossed with miles of Gütermann thread. With time and focus, a sphere-like form emerges, hovering like an ethereal presence. Every element, scale, spatial relation, viewer attention, builds toward what Lukas calls a “perturbation,” a disturbance that exposes the act of perception itself.
With a new series of small sculptures made from ceramic clay, Lukas extends into the realm of touch. Formed by squeezing clay with maximum force, the objects bear the imprints of his hands and manifest negative space, testing the viewer’s ability to feel their making.