Four and a half stars
Herron School of Art and Design

Peter Shelton’s “godspipes” is an exercise in contradiction: The installation is larger than life, yet to the unarmed viewer it appears intimate and fragile. “godspipes” is a collection of almost 200 translucent, hollow fiberglass forms, ribbed with intravenous lead piping. When the hundreds of forms are viewed together, they mimic elements of the human body. The tubular masses resemble both the micro — veins, arteries, valves — and the macro — torsos, limbs, joints, etc. The hollow forms are hung disjointedly along the gallery walls, some walls piled high with forms, others sparse; some create a rhythmic pattern, others do not — but when viewed as a whole, the forms come together as an informed organic structure. The viewer’s eye moves along the forms as energy builds and swells in the synapses of the apparently living form. The energy from each individual piece races to the next and creates the ultimate confliction in the viewer. On the one hand, a groundswell of energy from the biostructure engulfs the gallery as well as the viewer, raising the work and gallery space to an ethereal level and reducing the viewer’s presence to nothing. But, at the same time, each piece is so natural, the viewer is empowered and larger than life. Shelton is truly a master of gallery transformation. Through April 27; 317-278-9418.