Pushing the envelope with mundane, everyday materials, Dan Steinhilber’s show now at G Fine Art is a multidimensional and thought provoking exhibit. Steinhilber incorporates ordinary media to create a cohesive show where the images flow from one to the next and each element incorporates the last, sharing common themes. Packing peanuts, garbage bags and florescent light bulbs are cast in a new light with photography, sculpture, drawing and installation.

The walls of the gallery display Steinhilber’s photography of packing peanuts (pictured). They are large, grainy, black and white, closeup shots of packing peanuts in motion. Each composition is reminiscent of breaking waves. He has presented an often captured cliché and replicated it with an odd material. The juxtaposition is peculiar, showing the poetry of motion, but with a pedestrian material.

Stumpy mounds of packing peanuts, vacuum sealed in black garbage bags, sculpted and twisted into organic forms litter the floor. Each are unique and fashioned to show off the texture of the material. Small details emerge as each individual peanut is visible as well as the swirls from the ends of the garbage bags. The sculptures are both smooth and stubbly at the same time. The decaying shapes are slightly reminiscent of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s backs. They are similarly shaped; dark, twisted and bulbous, radiating gloom.