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MICHAEL BRADEN
URBAN ECOLOGIES: A PATTERN LANGUAGE November 23, 2019 - January 4, 2020 Opening Reception: Saturday, November 23rd, 5-8pm |
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
George Billis Gallery is pleased to present Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language, the gallery's first solo exhibition of paintings by Los Angeles-based artist, Michael Braden. Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language explores the fabric of our urban environment and the patterns that define our ‘Sense of Place’. The exhibition features the artist's recent geometric abstract paintings and continues through January 4th.
Society’s natural proclivity is to advance at the cost of all else. This path to progress has inevitably led to an imbalance in the equilibrium of the natural sustainable system - we modify and take from the land we inhabit, severely transforming the natural landscape. In Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language, Michael Braden responds to the underlying cultural, social, and technological forces that shape our urban ecosystem - creating paintings that use color and form to create order from chaos.
Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language draws from the physical vocabulary we use to define our ‘Sense of Place,’ the paintings explore the structure and impact of our contemporary environments. The form these paintings take mirror the systems used to shape the urban landscape - the plotted geometric shapes could be architectural renderings or topographical maps. One could be looking sideways through buildings, or at the footprint of urban structures, or down at a grid of agricultural operations.
The color relationships in Braden’s paintings are intuitive and nuanced - subtle variations in shade and hue play off each other in what are, in effect, the next generation of color field paintings. The addition of a physically raised border between the forms adds to the sense of delineated spaces. It is not just the color that divides but a dimensional structure rising between the fields. Ranging in scale from window-sized to monumental, these paintings bring the viewer into a new ordered world, one where Braden has distilled and reshaped his surroundings and experiences.
Michael Braden studied Theoretical Physics at the University of Wisconsin, received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota, and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington. He was equally pulled by art and science, and to this day these fields of inquiry inform his paintings. Braden’s training as a painter included formal studies in art and design. Braden is represented in museums and private collections internationally. His work has been shown at the Riverside Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, the British Institute of Architects, Portland Art Museum, Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, and at the Grounds For Sculpture. He has won numerous international competitions and received widespread acclaim and honors for his innovation and design. Braden lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Society’s natural proclivity is to advance at the cost of all else. This path to progress has inevitably led to an imbalance in the equilibrium of the natural sustainable system - we modify and take from the land we inhabit, severely transforming the natural landscape. In Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language, Michael Braden responds to the underlying cultural, social, and technological forces that shape our urban ecosystem - creating paintings that use color and form to create order from chaos.
Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language draws from the physical vocabulary we use to define our ‘Sense of Place,’ the paintings explore the structure and impact of our contemporary environments. The form these paintings take mirror the systems used to shape the urban landscape - the plotted geometric shapes could be architectural renderings or topographical maps. One could be looking sideways through buildings, or at the footprint of urban structures, or down at a grid of agricultural operations.
The color relationships in Braden’s paintings are intuitive and nuanced - subtle variations in shade and hue play off each other in what are, in effect, the next generation of color field paintings. The addition of a physically raised border between the forms adds to the sense of delineated spaces. It is not just the color that divides but a dimensional structure rising between the fields. Ranging in scale from window-sized to monumental, these paintings bring the viewer into a new ordered world, one where Braden has distilled and reshaped his surroundings and experiences.
Michael Braden studied Theoretical Physics at the University of Wisconsin, received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota, and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington. He was equally pulled by art and science, and to this day these fields of inquiry inform his paintings. Braden’s training as a painter included formal studies in art and design. Braden is represented in museums and private collections internationally. His work has been shown at the Riverside Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, the British Institute of Architects, Portland Art Museum, Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, and at the Grounds For Sculpture. He has won numerous international competitions and received widespread acclaim and honors for his innovation and design. Braden lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
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Billis Williams Gallery opened as George Billis Gallery Los Angeles in 2004. Tressa Williams joined as director in 2009 and became partner in 2021. Billis Williams Gallery builds on the Billis legacy and shows emerging to mid-career artists with a special focus on Southern California painters. The gallery is dedicated to exhibiting exceptional work in richly varied visual vocabularies ranging from abstraction to photorealism.
Billis Williams Gallery
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
[email protected]
www.BillisWilliams.com
Billis Williams Gallery
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
[email protected]
www.BillisWilliams.com