Art in Review Joel Hobbie: Interstitial

Regardless of how alien they may seem, the long branching tendrils and clustered centers resemble the synapses of the human brain.

Joel Hobbie: Interstitial, Peters Projects, 1011 Paseo de Peralta, 505-954-5800, petersprojects.com; through June 8

It’s a long-held trope that the natural and artificial — or the organic and inorganic — are diametrically opposed. But local new media artist Joel Hobbie’s seven sculptures on view in the exhibit Interstitial can serve to remind us that the separation is a superficial one, and maybe even arbitrary. Everything, after all, from the roots and limbs of the nearest tree to the most advanced computer processor, comes from the stars.

Interstitial is an interactive exhibit. Parts of each of the seven kinetic sculptures move in reaction to the presence of the viewer. But it isn’t motion sensors that cause the reactions. It’s iris scans and facial recognition technology. In essence, these sculptures are seeing you.

In appearance, each one looks like a hybrid of the spindly branches of treelike forms, robotic elements, lenses, and other devices — as though they were the product of some mad experiment in merging organic life forms and synthetics. In a way, that’s what they are — except that the scientific mind behind these anomalies is Hobbie.

The sculptures range in size from around two feet in height or width to the largest being about three feet wide to eight feet long. But in all of them, their greatest mass is at the center. That’s where their mechanical brains reside, in a jumble of LED lights, sensors, electrical components, and tangled roots.

Most of the sculptures occupy the first gallery off the gallery’s main lobby. It’s a brightly lit space, which is to its detriment. An adjoining chamber set with low light levels houses the remaining three works, and while these smaller-scale sculptures invite a more intimate, close-up interaction, the darkened chamber also highlights their light components, adding a more enigmatic quality to the overall experience. The larger room could have more impact if it, too, had it been lit this way.

Regardless of how alien they may seem — and these sculptures do resemble something you might imagine encountering in some extraterrestrial landscape — the long branching tendrils and clustered centers resemble the synapses in the human brain. Allusions to biology aren’t lost on the artist, who titled one piece Neuron 4, and another Exons, a reference to molecules of DNA or RNA that code for proteins.

It’s curious that the sculptures don’t do more. They react with limited motions. Magnapina, for instance, once it detects that you’re in its vicinity, retracts several of its branches, which curl inward like the legs of a dying spider. It seems to shyly recoil from human presence. Perhaps being programmed to do much