NY Contemporary Artist Elena Borstein's Architectural Paintings on View in Westport, NY, Today
Elena Borstein has long been interested in architecture. "Like Edward Hopper, I'd rather paint a patch of sunlight on a wall than a human face." For her part, she began painting buildings while still a college student photographing abandoned houses in Saratoga Springs, and not having equipment to illuminate them, switched to painting so she could light them as she wished.
In graduate school, she drew in the cavernous halls of an old Frank Furness building in Philadelphia where the sculpture studios were housed and attended architecture classes of Louis Kahn, who inspired her with his poetic musings on architecture. She later combined this interest with her love of travel to become an architectural flaneur. Instead of looking at great architecture of the past or ancient ruins, which inspired and stimulated so many architects, she instead focused on the vernacular architecture, and in particular that which lines the shores. hillsides and islands of the Mediterranean. The white cubist buildings translated into painterly light, color and geometric space in her paintings.
In the catalogue for a 2011 retrospective, Janet Koplos says, "If one were to attempt an interpretation of this body of work, enclosure and protection are surely among the possible motives. Borstein stands in these places: she experiences them as geometry and color, the useful elements of art. But her interest in light as well as color, in space as well as plane gives each setting breathing room. I'm reminded of Tadao Ando's early architecture, with its empty concrete courtyards in which sun and rain and wind mark the presence of nature. Borstein captures that same clarity and heightening of the senses in her paintings."
In 2007, on an extended trip to Japan, Borstein got a chance to experience Ando's architecture firsthand on the island of Naoshima where she both lived and worked in buildings he designed. Representing these iconic spaces in two dimensions, the artist is able to show them independently of their function and the paintings become visual metaphors for the actual spaces. Two paintings in this exhibit, "Rokko" and the "Green Wall," capture not only the concreteness of the architecture but salient associations, "the sound of rain on the roof, the movement of shadows."
In "Two Museums," a photo, taken on a trip to the Santiago Calatrava extension of the Milwaukee Art Museum, becomes a mashup with a photo Borstein took of the Miho Museum near Kyoto. A grid superimposed upon a skylight, both allowing the outside in and bathing the interiors in light.
"Reitberg - Two Views," an extension to a 19th century Zurich museum, also provides a confluence of inside and outside views with the artist opening a wall to penetrate further and further into the space beyond.
"A Symphony of Modules" depicts a 2012 structure by Stephen Holl that is inspired by the music of Hungarian composer Istvan Anhalf. The artist pared down its elements to capture the 'sounds' of the structures as well at the spaces of 'silence' between.
Borstein's work can also be viewed in Philadelphia at Seraphin Gallery, 1108 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Information about Elena Borstein:
Elena Borstein currently lives and works in New York City and the Adirondack Mountains. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she received her B.S. Degree in Fine Arts from Skidmore College and her B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. She is Professor Emerita of York College, CUNY.
Borstein's work is included in numerous major collections including: the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Hayden Museum, MIT, Cambridge, MA; Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY; Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ. Her work has also been in many solo and group exhibitions both in this country and abroad including: "American Realism" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 3 shows at the Bronx Museum and "New Acquisitions" at the Everson Museum, The Herbert F. Johnson Museum and the Museum of Modern Art and she exhibited at McNay Art Institute in San Antonio, TX.
She was part of the Washington D.C. Corcoran Gallery's traveling exhibition called "The Liberation - 14 American Artists" which traveled to 11 countries. Borstein is the recipient of a Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Throughout the 70's, 80's, and 90's Borstein traveled to Greece and throughout the Mediterranean, where she was captivated by the light and simple geometry of the houses. In 1987 she traveled to Cuba and has returned many times since. For the last ten years Borstein has been living in the Adirondack Mountains. She is currently represented in New York City by the Andre Zarre Gallery and in upstate New York by the Atea Ring Gallery. For more information and interviews, contact: elenaborstein(at)charter(dot)net http://www.elenaborstein.com
Information about Atea Ring Gallery:
The Atea Ring Gallery is located between Lake Champlain and the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, in Westport, New York at 236 Sam Spear Road. The gallery is open on Friday and Saturday between 10:00 am and 4:30 pm, or by appointment (518.962.8620).
