“I am looking for special surface structures, traces and patina as well as the history of the individual elements. My main concern is the abstraction of the material and the transfer to another level.”
–Michail Pirgelis
Michail Pirgelis’ solo exhibition Opaque Surfaces presents a new and previously unseen body of works that explore the manipulation and transformation of disused aircraft parts. In his complex artistic practice, the artist approaches the subject of sculpture from various levels. His work tests the limits of our understanding, radically expanding our experience of the sculptural form.
For over twenty years, Pirgelis has culled material from the wreckage of discarded airplanes, most of which he finds in the Mojave Desert. A meticulous process of abstraction finds him manipulating their surfaces with increasing intensity, stripping them to expose details and structural features that are otherwise not visible – but always present. This fragmentation of the aircraft, along with subtle interventions such as grinding or polishing individual parts, leads to a transformation of the material towards abstraction.
Natural processes also mark the surfaces with traces of use and evidence of weathering from the sun and desert storms over aircraft graveyards. The result are complex aesthetic works that offer clear painterly references.
Natural processes also mark the surfaces with traces of use and evidence of weathering from the sun and desert storms over aircraft graveyards. The result are complex aesthetic works that offer clear painterly references.
“The works detach themselves from their technical origin in the process of creation. The reduction to the essential is decisive.” –Michail Pirgelis
“The works detach themselves from their technical origin in the process of creation. The reduction to the essential is decisive.” –Michail Pirgelis
The exhibition features two groups of works. Large scale, dark monochrome sculptures including American Black and the Desert Star I and Desert Star II are installed either free-standing in the space, in front of a wall, or hanging. Thus, they constitute a space-defining element, lending an architectural dimension to the presentation. These expansive works, made of rectangular floor sections from the passenger area, are subdivided by metal braces and bits of leftover adhesive. Their vertical structure and repetition conjure associations with American Minimalism, and Barnett Newman’s zip paintings.
The second body of work consists of smaller works in matte green and white. By placing these – sometimes directly on the large monochrome works – Pirgelis erases the boundaries between surface, image, and sculpture while creating his own sculptural point of view.
The constituent moment of this work group is a significant dark green, varying qualities of which either trigger associations with the source or seem to eliminate them altogether: Hic Sunt Leones and Italic appear to show sections of the Alitalia logo.
The constituent moment of this work group is a significant dark green, varying qualities of which either trigger associations with the source or seem to eliminate them altogether: Hic Sunt Leones and Italic appear to show sections of the Alitalia logo.
Several works, including the Nature Studies and the Phantom Hands, have a clear painterly quality while others show the artist working down to the bare aluminum, as seen in Opaque Surface and Desert Training. The industrial character of aluminum appears to reference the Minimalist sculptures of Donald Judd and Robert Morris. However, the surfaces of Pirgelis’ works are anything but flawless: paint residue, scratches, and holes give the works something of a graphic quality that more closely resembles a drawing. Leftover traces of paint echo the gestural character of Abstract Expressionism.
Several works, including the Nature Studies and the Phantom Hands, have a clear painterly quality while others show the artist working down to the bare aluminum, as seen in Opaque Surface and Desert Training. The industrial character of aluminum appears to reference the Minimalist sculptures of Donald Judd and Robert Morris. However, the surfaces of Pirgelis’ works are anything but flawless: paint residue, scratches, and holes give the works something of a graphic quality that more closely resembles a drawing. Leftover traces of paint echo the gestural character of Abstract Expressionism.
Pirgelis’s works derive their haunting quality from a fundamental self-questioning. The objects are neither invented nor manufactured. Nor are they ready-mades in the strict, post-Duchampian sense of the word: Their material and form have become completely detached from their former function; their origins barely discernible. The materiality of the works seems strangely familiar, and yet it is difficult to say why it is so or what exactly is familiar about them. Thus, the works oscillate suggestively between object, drawing, and painting, highlighting Pirgelis' complex understanding of sculpture. They were objects just waiting to be uncovered.
“They were objects just waiting to be uncovered.” –Michail Pirgelis
“They were objects just waiting to be uncovered.” –Michail Pirgelis
Opaque Surfaces is also the title of a recent monograph published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, with texts by Tenzing Barschee, Camila McHugh and Nicolaus Schafhausen.
Opaque Surfaces is also the title of a recent monograph published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, with texts by Tenzing Barschee, Camila McHugh and Nicolaus Schafhausen.
Michail Pirgelis
Opaque Surfaces
July 2–August 20, 2022