Reflections, both literal and metaphorical, have long served as sites of inquiry within the history of representation. In Closer Than They Appear, Bay Area artists and designers work with mirrored and reflective materials not only as optical devices but also philosophical provocations—tools for examining how we come to recognize ourselves in images, or fail to.

The exhibition’s title, Closer Than They Appear, underscores both the laws of physics and metaphorically how reflections might inform us about proximity—of intimacy made strange, enacting a kind of call-and-response with the viewer’s self-imaging. This exhibition draws upon the spatial and psychological dimensions of the mirror, what Lacan famously termed the méconnaissance of the mirror stage, to explore how reflection can mislead, multiply, or undo perception altogether. In this context, reflection becomes sculptural, spatial, and social—shaped by the histories embedded in our physicality and the politics of perception.

This exhibition is co-presented by re.riddle and architect Anand Sheth during San Francisco Design Week. Closer Than They Appear aligns with this year’s theme, Reform, asking how aesthetic experiences can initiate deeper confrontations — with the self, with structures of power, and with the cultural images that shape them.

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 7 from 5-7pm

re.riddle