Vance constructed a series of controlled environments in his studio where water was subjected to vibration, pressure, and temperature changes, each producing dramatically different surface behaviors. Using high-speed cameras, he captured these moments of transformation — the instant a droplet crowns, the fracture pattern of breaking surface tension, the spiraling forms created by competing wave fronts.
The resulting photographs, printed at monumental scale, transform microscopic phenomena into abstract landscapes. Viewers frequently mistake them for aerial photographs of geological formations or satellite imagery of weather systems, an ambiguity that Vance deliberately cultivates.
Alongside the photographs, Vance created a series of glass and water sculptures that replicate in real time the phenomena captured in the images. These kinetic works invite visitors to observe surface tension directly, bridging the gap between the frozen moment of the photograph and the continuous flow of lived experience.
The project was widely praised for its visual beauty and its ability to find in fundamental physics a source of genuine wonder and aesthetic pleasure.
