This wall sculpture by Willie Cole features scores of heels from high-heeled shoes crowded together like subatomic particles. Cole uses multiples of consumer objects, in this case shoes, to create artworks that give viewers a different perspective on the objects. “I’m creating art the same way the universe does,” Cole says. “I use multiples of single objects. I’m taking a single cell and multiplying it.” Recalling one of the earliest inspirations behind his desire to work with multiples, Cole talks about Georges Seurat, the painter. Seurat is credited with the invention of pointillism, a visual position in which tiny dots of color are placed next to each other to suggest solid forms. Seurat was inspired by nature. We live in a world of particles; even though we see solids, it’s an illusion. Where Seurat used multiples of a single dot of paint to achieve his effects, Cole uses multiples of a single object. Like Seurat, Cole’s intention is to create new ways for people to see. “Seurat was a perceptual engineer,” Cole says. “That’s also what I call myself.”