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.

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.

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.