In The Praise Of Shadows
In Praise of Shadows (2012) was a major exhibition of new sculptural works by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce, presented at Johnen Galerie, Berlin. The installation continued Boyce's long-standing exploration of the visual language of modernist architecture and design, drawing particularly from the geometric vocabulary of the 1925 concrete "trees" created by avant-garde sculptors Joël and Jan Martel. In this exhibition, Boyce reconfigures these historical design forms into poetic, melancholic sculptural arrangements made from steel, brass, and concrete.
The works in the exhibition function as "visual poems," weaving together architectural motifs, fragments of typography, and reinterpreted design objects to create atmospheric environments in which nature and architecture seem to collapse into one another. Boyce employs his signature angular forms and grid-derived structures to evoke the decaying optimism of early modernism, reflecting on how utopian design ideals shift over time.
Presented during Berlin Gallery Weekend 2012, the exhibition situated Boyce's sculptural objects within a subdued, shadow-infused spatial composition, inviting viewers to move through an environment shaped by both historical resonance and contemporary reinterpretation.
The works in the exhibition function as "visual poems," weaving together architectural motifs, fragments of typography, and reinterpreted design objects to create atmospheric environments in which nature and architecture seem to collapse into one another. Boyce employs his signature angular forms and grid-derived structures to evoke the decaying optimism of early modernism, reflecting on how utopian design ideals shift over time.
Presented during Berlin Gallery Weekend 2012, the exhibition situated Boyce's sculptural objects within a subdued, shadow-infused spatial composition, inviting viewers to move through an environment shaped by both historical resonance and contemporary reinterpretation.
