What to Know
- Artist Michael Murphy's "Perceptual Shift"
- On view at Santa Monica Place through Dec. 31; Thursdays through Sundays
- $18 to $25
There's no one stretch of the year that is especially surreal or strange — perhaps outside of October, when spying whimsical witches and foam tombstones gracing yards becomes the norm — but late December is a great candidate for being a bit offbeat.
It is, after, the moment when the old year grandly bows and allows the next year to take the temporal throne, an act that is observed with noisemakers, funny hats, and, just maybe, a bit of marveling about time, perception, and the nature of change.
The magical mood is right for an imaginative exhibit like "Perceptual Shift," which is on view at Santa Monica Place near Third Street Promenade through Saturday, Dec. 31.
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The exhibit "explores themes of perspective, transience, and how small details can contribute to a bigger picture."
Talk about timely, just as we're showing 2022 and anticipating all of the good that 2023 will (fingers crossed) bring.
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The "mind-bending experiential installations" may appear to be a cluster of small-but-unrelated objects from one angle, but from another spot in the gallery?
You'll see that they form a large and colorful butterfly or a glittery word.
Leaving the installation, you may be prompted to ponder the sort of larger questions that naturally occur to us when one year is concluding and a new one is about to begin: Are we the sum of our parts? Do people view us differently from various vantage points?
And is there more mystery and magic flowing through art, time, and our worlds than we realize?
Note that "Perceptual Shift" will be closed on Dec. 24 and 25.
