The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art presents Perception, an exhibition that invites viewers to think about the relationship between their eyes and brains.

Perception is essential to the visual arts—we know art because we can perceive it. But can we trust that perception? Presided over by a giant brain and a pair of weeping eyes, this exhibition confronts us with static paintings that seem to move, diagrams that teach us nothing, and impossibly flattened models of perspectival space.

All of the artworks in Perception have been chosen from the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Several of the pieces are new acquisitions, including a painting on aluminum by Thomas Burke, a fabric sculpture by Denise R. Duarte, a ceramic work by Dirk Staschke, and a neon sculpture by Thomas Ray Willis (previously on view in The Emotional Show).

The exhibition also features drawings, sculptures, paintings, photography, and more by Deborah Aschheim, Chad Brown, Diane Bush, Tomoko Daido, Jack Endewelt, Ripper Jordan (James Hough, David Ryan, Sean Slattery), Kara Joslyn, Julie Oppermann, Brian Porray, Harry Roseman, James Stanford, Laurens Tan, John Torreano, Mikayla Whitmore, and Cindy Wright.

Perception will be on view in the West Gallery of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art from June 20–Dec. 20, 2025. The opening reception will take place on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, from 5–8 p.m. The Marjorie Barrick Museum is open from Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Entry is always free.

Image: Julie Oppermann, TH1223 (detail), 2012 Acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy R. Marsh Starks/UNLV Creative Services.