My life, what I am, my work… it is all the same for me.
— Annette Messager

French artist Annette Messager knows how to see. She views the world with an intuitive eye, whether it’s a funny walk, a scene in a movie, or someone sitting in a café. In the studio these visual snippets of life fuse with abstract meanings, spawning her surrealist-inflected sculptures. Her world is a marriage between form and content, where a small piece of netting can carry a heavy load of possible interpretations.

On view at Marian Goodman Gallery until August 24, Messager’s work is shown both in the light and obscured in shadow. In one room bare lightbulbs swing back and forth in perpetual motion, casting shadows that explode the room to fantastical proportions. In another she covers the wall in a thousand tiny badges, each one just a dot at a distance. Yet, upon closer investigation they reveal miniature drawings. Playing with scale and light, Messager shows off her expert use of form. Her work shows how formal elements like line and color convey meaning, if one just takes the time to notice.