When you hold a spoon to a light, it won’t cast the shadow of a fork. Intuitively, we know that a shadow is supposed to take the shape of its “owner.” John Muntean’s Magic Angle Sculptures seem to break that rule. The Riverside resident’s unique shadow-casting sculptures will make their debut at the Riverside Arts Center, 32 E. Quincy Road, during an exhibition from Aug. 29 to Oct. 10. The opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, in the center’s Freeark Gallery.

At first glance, a Magic Angle Sculpture appears nothing more than a finely polished, abstract wooden carving, skewered with a steel rod and mounted on a base. Magic, however, lurks in the shadows. When light is focused on the 3-D carving and it is rotated on the steel rod, each sculpture projects three distinct shadows. One sculpture reveals the shadows of a man, woman and baby; another projects a horse, elephant and coyote. Muntean will unveil 11 Magic Angle Sculptures during his exhibition.

“The Magic Angle Sculptures surprise us by playing with our expectations about how we view the world,” said Muntean, who developed the art form from a scientific technique that mechanically simulates a molecule tumbling through space. He is a spectroscopist at Argonne National Laboratory.

For more information, contact the Riverside Arts Center at (708) 442-6400 or visit www.jvmuntean.com and check out the video.