COOKED to perfection, a fulfilling panini-perfect, bhaji-bite-sized lunch break exhibition.

Curved Glass, by Nick Turvey, is an exhibition consisting of nine glass sculptures made during an artistic residency in Venice, and influenced by meetings with physicists at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research in India.

The aesthetically sumptuous, stunning simplicity of Turvey’s scientific ideas take shape amongst the brass, bronze and copper intricacies of microscopical instruments in the Entrance Gallery at the Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford.

As the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum, housing an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments, the museum provides a stimulating context for sculptures that can themselves be seen as scientific experiments, and consequently, possess boundless intrinsic appeal to a host of viewers.

Artists have long since strived to experiment with, and develop a viewer’s understanding of space, substance and energy through their creative practice.

With the belief that such development is too important to be left entirely to scientists, Turvey’s work is as aesthetically pleasing as it is conceptually stimulating.

I found myself circling the cabinets like a sheepdog.

The curvy voluptuousness, and tactile qualities of the sculptures, are at once fantastic and frustrating as they sit as austere objects behind the institutional glass walls of their showcase stands.

Stood before them, there’s a very real urge to feel the cold, taught touch of the glass against the warmth and softness of skin.

Kneel next to Some Things Occur by Necessity and free your imagination, gazing deep into the spiral as it swirls out of focus away from you – lost.

Note the dainty string of air bubbles in Hidden Dimensions, frozen among the fluidity of the icy molten glass.

Notice the perfect imperfections as you gaze into the lead crystal of Involute, and see if you too find yourself involuntarily shifting your weight from side to side as you dance before it, exploring and celebrating the glory of the morphic fluidity of the work’s watery transparency.

The only coloured sculpture in this exhibition, Invisible and Unchangeable, is, seductively sumptuous; its rich, cherry-red finds the viewer falling, drawn deep into the work, between the opaque waves of velvety colour.

A captivating exhibition, by a compelling artist, it’s not big, but it is very clever, and, well, simply beautiful too!

l Curved Glass continues until May 17 at the Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford. See mhs.ox.ac.uk for more information Admission free – Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 12pm – 5pm, Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 2pm – 5pm For further information about Nick Turvey’s art visit www.nickturvey.com