VERTEX | A Geometry of Edges: Osi Audu, Ginnie Gardiner, Whitney Hagen, Pascal Knapp, Susanna Ronner, Lynne Tobin & Kati Vilim

In geometry, a vertex is the meeting place of edges and the origin of the third dimension. The optical illusion created by this junction is what gives art its space with the goal of convincing the viewer that what they see, indeed, exists. 

Because of this three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface, the paintings by Ginnie Gardiner, Whitney Hagen, Susanna Ronner, Lynne Tobin, and Kati Vilim are intrinsically deceptive.  The arrangement of color, form, and line presents a believable reality that is defied by the flat substrates of canvas or paper. This phenomenon makes painting a deceptive art. On the other hand, the sculptors Osi Audu and Pascal Knapp, are contending with solid shapes and forms. Their art challenges the intangible and invisible world surrounding a sculpture. 

The more skilled the deception, the more persuasive the illusion. It is in the edges of these very compelling artworks, the vertices where these painted and sculpted edges meet is the where the optical illusion of space begins. 

Osi Audu: Not content with the painted surface, Osi Audu constructs disciplined forms from metal that alternate between wiry lines and shaped planes according to the viewer's position.  

Ginnie Gardiner: Gardiner meticulously creates abstract collages from paper and color acetate, which the artist then precisely paints on canvas, exploring the subtle color interactions between light and the form's edge.

Whitney Hagen: Whitney Hagen’s paintings depend on flat color planes to shape and bend space. Her use of uniformly applied pigments depicts an implied, alternate universe independent of tonal gradations.

Pascal Knapp: Pascal Knapp;s sculptures present a visual paradox as swordlike forms penetrate deceptively soft granite referencing Excalibur in the Arthurian legends.

Susanna Ronner: Susanna Ronner's vibrating lines dance around and among colored shapes in an improvised game between mass and movement. 

Lynne Tobin: Lynne Tobin references a space beyond the confines of paper as arcs bend from the pressure of rhythmic lines drawn with ink-soaked string.

Kati Vilim: The prismatic paintings of Kati Vilim depend on the illusion of refraction as light changes through its passage from one angled edge to another. 

In Vertex, the artists independently create a balancing act between the physical and the perceived.  The oscillating space created by the shifting planes described by these artworks, finds its equilibrium only in the painted edge or welded joint. Like the intricate vertices of paper origami, each artist folds their space, and from this intricate work, a new dimension is born.