Thierry Goldberg is pleased to present Paris, an online solo exhibition of works by Guillaume Gelot. The exhibition will be on view from September 25, 2020 through October 18, 2020.
Guillaume Gelot’s precise and detailed paintings – decorated with thin lines and grids – coexist as both objects and spatial investigations. With a background in 3D design, Gelot views space from a virtual programming perspective, where spaces and surfaces are signaled by black and white grids that either expand infinitely – connoting nonexistence and the void – or end finitely – connoting the edge of an object. Gelot’s work derives from this graphed world where all shapes and angles relate. He sees his works as grids, objects, or surfaces, and, like in 3D design, he uses linear patterns to describe these differences. Paris juxtaposes Gelot’s painted grids in his “Paris” series, with his crystal-like “Gems,” which manifest out of the digitally vast stretch.
Gelot’s “Paris” series employs stark, Sol LeWitt-esque grids stretched across each uniquely shaped canvas to create works almost appearing to be measured in standardized units. Each work resembles a Tetris piece, geometric and somehow misshapen, existing as a massive block or figure while also simultaneously signaling that pieces of it are missing. From his “Paris” series, we can see Gelot’s roots are in the square and that he holds a belief of its statement as the natural origin. It is from here that he created Eyeliner (2020), his homage to Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square. Although Albers’ closely studies color, Gelot’s Eyeliner (2020) explicitly does not; its absence of differentiated hues focuses the attention on Gelot’s outlines and delicacy of his technique.
Gelot does use color – neon color – in his “Gem” series. These six-sided canvases burst with color in a manner that exudes objecthood and demands attention. Each brightly colored work is like a “Wet Floor sign;” each forces your understanding of it as an object in space, one that you must maneuver around because it disrupts usual movement. Though not all of the artist’s “Gems” are soaked in color, they do all exist as fractioned shapes, seemingly originating from larger rectangles, but sliced into elegantly angular pieces. The “Gems” ’ sharp edges mirror the sharp refractions that intersect the paintings’ intricately rendered grids. Feeling like a computer glitch or synchrony of another programming language – both sets of lines coexist in a peaceful swarm of perpendicular lines and diagonals. The “Gems” are like mathematically generated crystals – perfect as if from an equation. Their dazzling presence is reminiscent of a diamond ring or a solved theorem. Like the other works in Paris, Gelot’s are luxurious, yet sharp and absolute. In his painted cyber space, he strikes a balance that to him can only be described as “French.”
Guillaume Gelot (b. 1984, Thessaloniki, Greece) lives and works in Paris, France. He holds a BFA in Sculpture from University of Houston, Houston, TX and studied 3D Animation and Design at Houston Art Institute, Houston, TX. His work has been included in exhibitions at Pablo Cardoza Gallery, Houston, TX; Retrospective Gallery, Hudson, NY; Derouillon Gallery, Paris, France; Circuit12, Dallas, TX; Peres Projects, Berlin, Germany; Mark Flood Resents, New York, NY; and Helutrans, Singapore among others. This is his first solo show with Thierry Goldberg Gallery.
For more information please email or call the gallery at + 1. 212.228.7569 or info@thierrygoldberg.com.
Guillaume GelotParis
Past Exhibitions exhibition