Hillier College Gallery Spring Exhibit Opens January 2022
The J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier College of Architecture and Design Gallery at NJIT is honored to present an exhibition featuring fine artists Gianluca Bianchino and Kati Vilim. Curated by Matthew Gosser, Abstract Geometries explores the similarities and differences between the works of Bianchino and Vilim throughout various phases of their careers. The wall works consist of abstract geometric paintings and wall reliefs in the manner of assemblage or multimedia sculpture. These will be hung throughout the space not as separate entities but as a continuous formal and conceptual narrative, presenting harmony as well as contrasting elements. Sculptural or installation pieces will be situated throughout the gallery that employ sound, digital imagery, and light and shadow. The viewer will experience a variety of interferences happening between different sound pitches, notes, shapes and colors. The connective geometries as well as color and use of space will appear sometimes as minimalist nuances, other times as striking contrasting elements. The viewer’s cast shadows will also be implicated in the work’s multimedia landscape, creating an internal dialogue between the art pieces and the public fostering a unique opportunity for contemplation, discovery, and perhaps perception of hidden similarities.
“Abstract Geometries” will open to the public on Thursday, February 17 from 6 – 9 pm with a reception for the artists, live entertainment, and light refreshments. The exhibition will close on Sunday, March 7, 2021 with an artist talk starting at 2 p.m.
The Hillier College Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with additional times by appointment only. The gallery is located on the second floor of Weston Hall, NJIT campus (on the corner of MLK Blvd. and Warren St., Newark). For more information about the exhibition, please contact the Hillier College Gallery Curator, Matt Gosser at: mlg2@njit.edu
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Gianluca Bianchino: Bianchino’s artwork is an attempt to contain chaos in an ordered aesthetic. Process and engagement with traditional and industrial materials conflate with science and architecture in an exploration of the underlying geometry of nature and the built environment. The resulting artwork is set in a metaphysical context that is often ambiguous with works resembling alien landscapes, star maps to unspecified regions of space, or abstract structures alluding to probes and satellites. His practice is eclectic and frequently generative. Temporary installations produce photographs, videos, and/or parts that reappear in later sculptures, and vice versa; sculptures may appear in larger multimedia configurations. In his artistic process, sculpture, photography, video, and drawing/painting mimic each other within a self-referential hybrid vernacular of assemblage and trompe l'oeil. Current bodies of work are–interactive optical sculptures, unstable topographical surfaces, and installations intended to present chaos as a believable visual system.
Kati Vilim: Vilim creates abstract images. The type of abstraction that she creates doesn’t happen through the reduction of something visible, it is created through visual ideas - originated in the invisible part of the world – much like music, or mathematics. These ideas become visible through the compositions built from more or less complex geometric forms, transparency, color, structure, ratio or rules as repetition, symmetry etc. The expression of inner thoughts is transposed and the flow of information presumes transmitters, by various mediating agents, composed of abstract language systems, such as a spoken or written language, music or mathematics. These language systems possess numerous common features, e.g. structure, rhythm and ratio are found in all that then become the elements, with the addition of color that her compositions are based on.
About the J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier College of Architecture and Design:
The J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier College of Architecture and Design is comprised of the School of Architecture and the School of Art + Design. Hillier College offers undergraduate degrees in architecture, digital design, industrial design and interior design as well as graduate degrees in architecture, infrastructure planning, and urban systems. The Hillier College of Architecture and Design is a comprehensive design school located in an R1 classified research university. By studying design here, our students have ample opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and interdisciplinary interaction. www.njit.edu
