Galleri Urbane is pleased to welcome back artist and architect Gail Peter Borden for an exhibition of new paintings and sculpture. SPACED features Borden’s signature resin cast acrylic panels that employ geometry to create spatial configurations and produce depth from flatness. Through single unit and multi-panel compositions across a range of new series, Borden forges art and architecture and explores the perceptual potential within defined systems of shape and color.
Watch:
View a video tour of the exhibition
Crisp geometric fields of color serve as the basis of Borden’s investigation of form and space.
Vibrant hues create edges, corners, and planes, forming micro environments within each panel. Perspective is harnessed for effect as angled projections imply depth and space to the human eye. Glossy resin surfaces homogenize the brushstrokes below, transforming each scene into an industrialized art object. The paintings are often presented as modular units of larger clusters, inviting the potential for more complex environments to arise in the overall composition.
“My work is founded in a synthetic vision of art and architecture, bridging between the experiential and emotively perceptual nature of art and the rational tectonics of formal systems. Focused on the relationship of the part to holistic form all in relation to the spatial and effectual result, my work, through drawing, painting, design proposals and installation is in search of experiential environments that emerge from the distinctness of a natural place and allow the viewer to fully immerse themselves in an experience to understand and focus on the place.”
The paintings in SPACED comprise four distinct series that take varied approaches to creating volume and form. A series of four vertical 24 x 12 paintings utilize a simple two-color palette to establish edges. A series of 9 square paintings explore more complex geometries: depth volumes, corner portals, and frames within frames are composed in multiple color ways to offer diverse optical effects. Aggregate combinations installed in a grid compose geometric quilt-like compositions, highlighting the capacity for multiple individual works to work collectivity as a whole. Finally, a series of irregular shaped, multi-panel works utilize a 6 inch module and engage the wall as a compositional frame to create intricate adaptations of perspective. In addition to these paintings, SPACED also includes a floor sculpture that extends Bordens interests into three dimensions. A singular family of colors define protruding and receding volumes on cast concrete tiles that join to create a linear line across the space. Each unit contains an upright 3D-printed framework that further renders volume through form, light, and shadow.
Exhibition Install Images:
Watch:
Gail Peter Borden checks in from his studio to answer questions about his newest body of work
Borden’s works combine the compositional integrity of abstract expressionism with the clarity of form in minimalism. Sleek and pared down to the most essential elements of color, form, and material, the works maintain the ability to offer maximum sensorial effect.
Gail Peter Borden attended Rice University, simultaneously receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees cum laude in fine arts, art history, and architecture. At Harvard University's Graduate School of Design he completed his Masters of Architecture with distinction. In addition to holding a tenured position as a Professor at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston, Borden is the Director of Graduate Programs and has served as the principal of Borden Partnership since 2002. His books: Material Precedent: The Typology of Modern Tectonics, 2010 (Wiley Press); Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production, 2011 (Routledge); Principia: Architectural Principles of Material Form, 2013 (Pearson); Process: Material and Representation in Architecture, 2014 (Routledge); and New Essentialism: Material Architecture, 2018 (Applied Research & Design) all focus on materiality. In 2004, Borden received a residency from The Chianti Foundation in Marfa, Texas, culminating in the exhibition Spaceframes, where he was introduced to Galleri Urbane for the first time. SPACED is Borden's fifth solo exhibition at Galleri Urbane.