"I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature" - Albert Einstein

Alan Binstock, asks you to dream, to visualize the play of subatomic particles, to explore the labyrinth of seemingly random patterning, and to make a pilgrimage through the cosmos. His work seek to capture the ever-changing rhythms connecting space and time, and to penetrate the structural dynamics underlying what the naked eye can see.

In his glass, steel and stone sculptures, he counterpoints outer shape and inner structure, creating a dialogue with parallels in human life. The artist's fascination with glass, both plate and tempered, stems from the idea that the whole can be seen in its parts. Influences range from the nature-inspired sculptures of Isamu Noguchi, Martin Puryear, Andy Goldsworthy, and David Smith to yoga philosophy, architecture, and NASA. Approaching glass like stone, he chisels and grounds, then cold fuses the material into distilled geometric configurations that are rich in association. The fanning glass bars of Ascending II and III, for example, evoke DNA spirals, whereas Future View conjures the intense listening capability of a radar telescope.

With each change in light and perspective, the transparent turquoise, emerald, and rust layers of Binstock's sculptures reflect and refract, beckoning the eye to wander inside and discover the intricacies beneath the surface. In many cases, including Arc Construction and Shield, a steel structure holds the glass component in balance. With its tensile strength and flexibility acting as a perfect foil, the support draws attention to how disparate materials are linked. In all of his works, a rugged finish plays off an elegance of design and construction: "I can envision my works nesting comfortably in an archeology dig, as well as on the Starship Enterprise"É

Bringing together tenets of Eastern philosophy and Western science, In formation challenges conventional thinking when attempting to understand structure and process. The artist's multi-faceted images elide personal experience with cosmic aspiration. Refusing easy description, they stir the imagination, instilling not frustration or doubt, but an empathetic sense of liberation and wonder.

Sarah Tanguy