MMPA Marianne Bernstein
Marianne Bernstein, “Dark Side of the Moon.”

The Maine Museum of Photographic Arts in Portland will host an artist panel from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 21 in conjunction with “Investigations into the Metaphysical,” on view through Oct. 3.

The exhibition brings together work by Brendan Bullock, Marianne Bernstein, Brenton Hamilton, Peter Shellenberger, Fern Nesson, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Elizabeth Opalenik, Luc Demers and Susan Murie.

Loosely inspired by Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, the exhibition considers artists who investigate ordinary objects, materials, light, time, process and perception as a means of exploring larger questions about existence.

Morandi was known for repeatedly depicting the same everyday objects — bottles, bowls and boxes — with close attention to subtle shifts in light and arrangement. MMPA director Denise Froehlich conceived the exhibition around a similar spirit of sustained investigation, asking how space, time and change act on matter, how matter acts on the mind and what role artistic process plays in those relationships.

MMPA Peter Shellenberger
Peter Shellenberger, “Radioactive Firefly 1.”

The participating artists approach those questions through a wide range of photographic and mixed-media practices. Bullock creates cameraless silver gelatin prints by manipulating film, organic materials and other objects in the enlarger. Shellenberger uses fireflies to expose sheets of film, while Bernstein’s “Dark Side of the Moon” brings astronomical images together with self-portraits and medical imagery.

Nesson explores phosphorescence and the persistence of energy, while Hamilton’s cyanotypes look to the changing sky as a means of contemplating transience and freedom. Demers investigates photography itself as an object of history, science and art, and Murie combines cyanotype with processes and materials including toning, colored pencil and other media to examine the natural world, beauty, time and environmental disruption.

MMPA Brendan Bullock
Brendan Bullock, “No 1.”
MMPA Elizabeth Opalenik
Elizabeth Opalenik, “The Landscape Within #007.”

Weinstein’s work draws on ancient Babylonian magic bowls and contemporary materials to consider spirituality, ritual and attempts to understand or control the unknown.

MMPA will also host photographer Melonie Bennett for a talk, reading and book signing from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 18.

The Maine Museum of Photographic Arts is at 387 Commercial St., Suite E, Portland. For more information, call 207-714-8724, email contact.mmpa@gmail.com or go to mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org.