Lighting for Mars by Jason Robert Bauer

This piece extends the work Jason Robert Bauer has been doing with light, texture, and color since 2020. Bauer is using glass's optical magic to play with the caustics created by internal LEDs. Using a technique that fades glass from one color to another, he created two tubes, one nested inside the other — the internal tube's texture is projected onto the surface of the outer tube, where it's further distorted by clear glass additions on the piece's surface. The colors interact to reveal even more color, a phenomenon unique to the material. The work shifts from one perspective to the next; as you move around it, you engage in a dance of light and color.

Embracing our current times, BAyer has collaborated with AI to envision the light in impossible places such as Mars, the moon, Barbarella (1968 movie-inspired scene), and even flying in space.