The Inherent Geometric brings together four very different styles of contemporary art that share geometry as a common organizational framework.  Examples of realism, abstraction, conceptual art, and imagery combining these approaches all demonstrate similar underlying properties of balance, symmetry, and repetition.

 

Sean Hildreth works with these properties to depict the details of everyday objects and places which might at first glance seem insignificant, but which can carry deep personal meaning. Taking various architectural and interior details of his family’s four-generation home and other familiar environments as his subject matter, Hildreth raises the common to the level of the distinctive with his sustained visual and intellectual analyses.  

 

Phyllis Gorsen’s work is also representational, but she presents her clearly recognizable imagery within a geometric framework, combining naturalism with abstraction. Underlying all of her work is the idea of connectivity – canvases are joined to other canvases; lines and patterns continue uninterrupted across borders; colors and forms respond to one another; and titles and subjects explore different yet related ideas.

 

Mark Basco pushes more deeply into abstraction as he studies the forms and spaces in the smallest details of Philadelphia’s urban environment. By reducing his subjects to their most basic visual elements – line, shape, color – Basco describes the experience of observing: the movement of light, the fluctuation of reflection, or the sensations of a particular season. Basco’s exploration of his environment parallels his exploration of materials; he often works with unconventional mediums such as pumice gel, reflective resin, and aluminum tape.

 

Jillian Schley also experiments with her materials, pouring paint rather than brushing it; dipping soft, 2D paper in beeswax to create rigid, 3D sculptures; or using hair as a painting tool. The results are sometimes unpredictable, creating space for flexibility. Lines are not always straight, planes are not always flat, and shapes do not always conform to their inherent geometry. Schley embraces this flexibility in her completed work. Often comprised of multiple parts, her sculptures can be presented in endless combinations of ordering, overlapping, and fresh juxtapositions.

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Generously supported by Eadeh Enterprises and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.