LUKA FINEISEN. Smoke and Mirrors

In her first solo exhibition on the West Coast, German sculptor Luka Fineisen uses fog, helium, coffee, viscous liquids, fans, mirrors, glitter, various plastics and sugar to explore sensuality, beauty, decadence and truth.

Fineisen is unafraid of delighting, with her sparkly surfaces, magical special effects, voluptuous media and sugary treats. In a luxuriously austere palette of black and white, she manipulates states of matter - liquid, solid, gaseous or somewhere between - and in the process, manipulates our senses and perception.

This installation could be read as a critique of a(n art) world distracted by the sugar-rush and caffeine-buzz of the shiny and new. Mirrors, on one hand, might be symbols for introspection... or on the other, vanity, self-absorption or beauty that fades. Helium-filled balloons eventually droop. Sugar is sweet... and addictive and toxic. This exhibition is about the superficial versus the substantive, distraction versus satisfaction and ultimately, the value of consuming art.

Luka Fineisen was born in Offenburg, Germany and educated at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. She has exhibited throughout Germany and in New York, France, England and South Korea. This is her first solo exhibition on the West Coast.