Act II: The Voyage: At last they entered the underground chamber, where the Magician transformed them into a great jewel 1980

Arthur Tress's "Act II: The Voyage" presents a constructed reality through collage, set within a miniature proscenium arch. I can imagine him piecing together the elements, shifting the objects, and creating a scene that feels both theatrical and deeply intimate. There's an alchemical quality to the shiny surfaces and strange apparatus, as if the artist is performing a kind of transformation, a magician in his own right. Tress is building on surrealist ideas—the kind you see in the uncanny worlds of Max Ernst or Méret Oppenheim—but with a sensibility that’s all his own. The way the light catches the glass and metal suggests a space where the boundaries between inner and outer worlds blur, inviting us to question what is real and what is imagined. Creating new possibilities from found realities, Tress asks: Can we see with new eyes?