Masters & Pelavin is pleased to present Through the Thicket of Things, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. In a series of abstract collages, Gaeta uses graph paper as her primary medium and main source of inspiration. Although her geometric constructions are painstakingly hand-cut, carefully layered and precisely ordered within their rectangular formats, the overall compositions have an intriguing energy, depth, and visual complexity.
After finding
countless boxes of old graph paper in a trash bin, Gaeta began using it for her
drawings. Soon, however, she discovered that cutting the paper along it’s
gridded lines with an X-Acto blade and removing small sections of the graph was
a process that opened up new artistic possibilities. Although occasionally her
work looks as though the paper may have been machine cut, a closer look reveals
her precise, labor-intensive process, with spontaneous, hand-made imperfections
evident in the highly detailed work.
By its very
nature, graph paper contains at least two perpendicular sets of lines forming a
square grid, inviting activities such as three-dimensional drafting. Using this
flat-surfaced grid as the jumping off point, Gaeta builds the illusion of depth
with minimalist paper squares and cubes that have been glued flat against the
graph paper. At the same time, she creates literal depth by building up layers
of paper upon various shapes, raising and precariously overlapping them, adding
height and volume to the geometric configurations. The boldness of these vivid,
colorful designs, coupled with the delicate, tessellated nature of the thinly
cut paper, create striking sculptural patterns that evoke a range of crafts,
such as crochet, weavings, mosaics and architectural renderings.
Much of the work
in this show was, in fact, inspired by architecture, particularly the empty, dilapidated
buildings near Gaeta’s hometown of Niagra Falls, New York. Recalling the broken
factory windows and rusting exteriors, many of the small collages in this show
evoke a sense of uninhabited space and industrial decline, while her larger
pieces tend toward proliferation and renewal. Her use of graph paper and the
strict, systematic nature of architectural drafting it elicits are juxtaposed
with worn, broken down materials such as ragged-edged paper, perforated vellum,
wood veneers and flaking paint in luscious hues, suggesting an elegant and
ordered decay.
As Gaeta herself
explains, “The use of graph paper is less common today as computer software has
taken over many of the paper’s former uses. I want to go back to those humble
uses, to a hand-made, craft-based art that eventually breaks down and
deteriorates, but is ultimately more tactile, engaging and visually
pleasurable.”
A recent graduate
of SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Art & Design, Gaeta currently lives and
works in New York City.
Patricia Gaeta
June 13 – July 27
13 Jay Street
