DATE:March 29th - April 5th

“MY PIECES ARE CITIES, TERRITORIES, URBAN LANDSCAPES EITHER DESERTED OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION. BEING FRENCH, LIVING IN NEW YORK, MY CITY OF CHOICE IS WHAT FEEDS MY INSPIRATION: GEOMETRY AND CHAOS, ORDER AND DISORDER, VERTICALITY AND STRATIFICATION.”

– GUILLAUME PATUREL

WHITEBOX IS PLEASED TO PRESENT NEW WORKS BY THE FRENCH ARTIST GUILLAUME PATUREL, THE EXHIBITION, TITLED “TERRITORIES OF COMPLEXITY” WILL FEATURE A SUITE OF LARGE-SCALE PAINTINGS AND ONE SCULPTURAL PAINTING —HIS FIRST FORAY INTO THE MEDIUM.

PATUREL’S ARTISTIC PRACTICE INTERWEAVES ARCHITECTURE AND PAINTING—THEY NEST TOGETHER, OVERLAP, COMPRESS EACH OTHER, AND COLLIDE LIKE A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY APPLIED TO THE MEMORY OF MANKIND. HE TAKES AN ALMOST PRIMITIVE APPROACH TO THE MATERIALS, CHOOSING WOODEN PANELS WHICH HE SPONTANEOUSLY CUTS, SCRAPES, AND CARVES THROUGHOUT THE PAINTING PROCESS TO REVEAL LAYERS EMBEDDED IN THE MATERIALS. AT THE MOMENT OF CREATION, THE ARTIST ALREADY HAS A VISION OF HOW TO METHODICALLY DECONSTRUCT AND RECONSTRUCT IN A SUCCESSION OF SUBTRACTION AND LAYERING, TRANSFORMING HIS PAINTINGS INTO AN ALMOST SCULPTURAL ORGANIZED CHAOS.

IN THIS EXHIBITION, PATUREL’S PAINTINGS EVOKE INTENTIONAL ATTEMPTS TO MARK AND DELIMIT A TERRITORY EXCAVATED FROM DENSELY LAYERED PAINT AND PATTERNS AND THE MATERIALITY OF THE WOODEN PANELS THEY OCCUPY. ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS ARE OMNIPRESENT IN THE WORK, THOUGH IT IS REVEALED IN A SUBTLE ENERGY AND BARELY DEFINED FORMS, ECHOES OF SCHEMATICS AND TOPOGRAPHICAL MAPS. PATUREL’S PAINTING IS ABOVE ALL PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL. HE TRANSFORMS WOODEN PANELS FROM PASSIVE SURFACES TO ACTIVE SCULPTURAL PAINTINGS. FOR PATUREL, THIS APPROACH OF INSERTING “FOREIGN” MATERIALS INTO PAINTING IS REMINISCENT OF HOW, THROUGH ARTIFICIAL OR NATURAL INTERVENTIONS, ONE CAN TRANSFORM COMPLETELY URBAN AND NATURAL LANDSCAPES.

GUILLAUME PATUREL WAS BORN IN MARSEILLE, FRANCE IN 1970. HE EARNED DEGREES IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE FROM L’ÉCOLE DES BEAUX ARTS IN MARSEILLE AND ECOLE NATIONALE SUPÉRIEURE D’ARCHITECTURE DE PARIS LA VILLETTE. HE HAS PRODUCED ARCHITECTURAL RENDERINGS FOR SOME OF THE WORLD’S TOP ARCHITECTS, INCLUDING SOU FUJIMOTO, DIDIER FAUSTINO, MOS ARCHITECTS, MAURIZIO PEZO, AND SOFIA VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE RENDERINGS FOR THE NEW ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWER AND MEMORIAL AND K.A.CARE’S SUSTAINABLE CITY IN SAUDI ARABIA. PATUREL IS ALSO AN ACCOMPLISHED FILMMAKER WHOSE WORKS HAVE BEEN SHOWN IN FILM FESTIVALS IN FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND. PATUREL HAS HAD SOLO EXHIBITIONS OF HIS PAINTINGS AT THE FRAGMENTAL MUSEUM (2012), ONE ART SPACE (2013), AND A+E GALLERY (2015), ALL IN NEW YORK CITY, NY.

LARA PAN