Photos By Gail

I keep a fairly extensive archive of photos from the past two decades spent exploring the city’s galleries. Time has a way of slipping by before I can feature something I love in what might be considered a timely manner — but there’s no rule against circling back to a standout piece that still feels worth sharing.

Case in point: these luminous, candy-colored chandeliers, which  have been were replaced by a different lighting installation since I first spotted them two summers ago at Petzel Gallery on West 25th Street. They’ve lingered in my memory ever since — impossible to forget and far too striking to leave unseen. Now feels like the right moment to finally give them their due: glowing sculptures that read like a constellation, hovering somewhere between chandelier, artwork, and dream.

Obviously, these aren’t conventional light fixtures. They’re part of an ongoing body of work by Jorge Pardo, an artist known for dissolving the boundary between fine art and functional design. His installations routinely blur categories — furniture becomes sculpture, architecture becomes artwork, and lighting becomes something far more immersive.

At Petzel, Pardo’s suspended pieces read like a floating ecosystem. Clusters of layered discs, rods, and translucent elements gather into jellyfish-like forms, radiating soft, tinted light. They feel at once delicate and exuberant — playful but also deeply considered.

Pardo’s lighting is distinctive for how it’s made and how it behaves in space. Rather than relying on traditional glass-blown forms, he often uses laser-cut acrylic and plastic components, assembling hundreds of individual pieces into complex structures that are both digitally conceived and hand-built. The result is something that feels engineered and organic at the same time — like coral reefs translated into circuitry.

Color is central. Pardo layers hues in a way that transforms light into a kind of material. His lamps don’t just illuminate a room; they recompose it, casting shifting tones and unexpected shadows that subtly alter how the space is perceived.

Equally important is the way these works sit between categories. The artist has long been invested in questioning whether an object is art, design, or something in between. His lamps function as usable light sources, yet remain unmistakably sculptural. They invite interaction while resisting easy classification.

Seen together in clusters, as they are here, the effect is immersive. Each piece feels autonomous, but collectively they create an atmosphere — part installation, part environment. It’s a reminder that for Pardo, the goal isn’t just to light a space — it’s to transform how we experience it.