2013 Catalogue Archive

French artist Cyprien Gaillard’s work addresses the contradictions of the built environment. The Gates series first developed when Gaillard began exploring cities and collecting imprints of manhole covers to examine the relationships between architecture and nature, and between evolution and erosion. In this bold rubbing, the elegant, minimal geometry of a Seattle storm drain announces the portal that connects the street to the hidden workings of the city below. Gaillard lives and works in Berlin and New York. In 2010 Gaillard was awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize, Paris, and the following year received the National Gallery Prize for Young Art, Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; MoMA PS1, New York; and, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.