Elbowing 2003

Ray Howlett made this shimmering piece, titled ‘Elbowing’, out of glass, at some point in his career, and it’s a real head-turner. The way Howlett manipulates light here is just captivating. It’s all about how light interacts with the surface, bending and bouncing off it. Look at how those linear patterns aren’t just on the surface, they seem to go deeper, creating this illusion of space within the solid form. The colour palette, with its iridescent blues, greens, and yellows, gives the sculpture an almost ethereal quality. The sharp, clean edges contrast with the fluid, shifting colours, which reminds me a little of those op art paintings by Bridget Riley from the '60s. Howlett’s taken something solid and made it seem alive, in motion, like a fleeting moment captured in glass. It's a reminder that art, like light, is always in flux, always changing.