On a subterranean level of Almine Rech’s Tribeca gallery, Brooklyn-based artist Matthew Schreiber pairs a mesmeric, site-scaled laser installation with four new holograms from his ongoing Orders of Light series. The confluence of works, all studies on the manipulation of light, forms “Undertow,” his first solo exhibition with the gallery. An enveloping highlight, Banshee, creates a visceral illusion as its lasers seem to carve one room into pieces while an ominous haze appears to solidify the red beams into sculptural forms.
The same subversive spirit underscores the holograms, which are set upon polished glass and silver. “When I was about seven years old I became very interested in lasers, which happen to also form the core of the holographic process,” Schreiber tells Surface. “So it started with a simple interest in the tools…but after about 35 years it has grown into something else. Holograms are made with laser light, and this informs my laser sculptures.” Schreiber says viewers should move into and around the work, noting that it “is built to change form based on the viewpoint.”
The artist, who helms an optical and holography laboratory in Brooklyn, was instrumental in the development of the medium as the lead holographer of the C Project from 1994 to 1999, and he is credited with encouraging artists John Baldessari, Larry Bell, Louise Bourgeois, Dorothea Rockburne, and many more, to explore its potential. Simultaneous to his exhibition at the Tribeca gallery, Schreiber’s holographic work is currently presented within “Sculpting with Light: Contemporary Artists and Holography” at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
