Light sculptures get people to “stop and stare” at the Hexton Gallery

As the sun set over Aspen on Sunday night, Bob Chase noticed a phenomenon of sorts outside his Hexton Gallery downtown.

A couple of people stopped in their tracks to stare at the glowing light sculptures inside, part of a solo exhibition by the artist Phillip K. Smith. Then, a couple more people, and even more after that.

“And people would just collect,” Chase said. “Two, four — we had about eight or 10 people in front of the window last night just mesmerized by it.”

The pieces have a trippy, glowing-orb-like quality, with concentric shades of sunset orange and ocean blue contained in smooth circles and oblong shapes. And those shades are constantly changing, thanks to Smith’s technique of “color choreography.”

The process is so subtle, Chase said, that it’s nearly impossible to detect, “until all of a sudden you're standing in front of something that looks very different than it did two minutes ago, but you're not sure how that happened.”

Each sculpture is smooth, too, mirroring its surroundings whenever the gallery is light enough to produce a reflection. But when it’s dark out — or even just dim inside the gallery — viewers mostly see the light emanating from within, and “you start to experience something completely different,” Chase said. The exhibition is titled “Outside In/Inside Out,” a reference to that relationship between each piece and its environment.

“It's not just something that you would look at and admire,” he said. “It's something that you actually experience.”

The exhibition rewards those who choose to savor the moment — like those who gathered outside the gallery over the weekend.

“Stop and stare, spend a little bit of time, because this work really slows time as a result of it changing,” Chase said. “You don't necessarily recognize it, but it very much grounds you and slows you in time.”

Metaphors, perhaps, for life itself? Chase certainly thinks so.

“I think it's this whole idea of light being at the core of what makes us human in many regards,” Chase said. “It's a bit of the core of nature. But then also, that idea of slowing down, grounding yourself, and taking a moment to see the things that might be happening around you.”

“A lot of our artists tend to allow us to see the world around us in a different way,” he added. “And that’s something that’s important to us.”

“Outside In/Inside Out” is on display at the Hexton Gallery through Aug. 12. An artist’s reception with Smith is scheduled for Aug. 5 from 5 to 8 p.m.