Chris Natrop: Lily Ponder August 28, 2012

Los Angeles-based installation artist Chris Natrop transforms the Zillman Gallery into a mesmerizing environment of gleaming free-form cutouts created from mirrored Plexiglas and acid-cut brass. His wall-based 'Duplex Mirror Rush' is composed of multiple elements of intricately shaped mirrors installed in the corner of the gallery. The silhouette shapes, which are derived from the artist's original large cut paper compositions, are digitally altered, reformed and laser cut using a computer numerical control (CNC) device. The 90 degree angle of the two walls bisects the image. Natrop's cut paper drawings are often suspended from the ceiling. In this new installation, created specifically for UMMA, colored lights cast a field of subtle hues across the hanging paper forms that reference calla lilies intertwined with vine-like tendrils. In 'Lily Ponder,' Natrop creates a fictionalized perception of place that immerses the viewer in an ethereal landscape of abstract flora juxtaposed with elements of refracted and reflected light.