Gregory Miguel Gómez: Point at Infinity

May 9 - June 21, 2015

Connections, as well as representations of connectivity, fascinate me. Telephone lines, power lines, cable lines sweep across the landscape from pole to pole to pole. Schematic representations organize my understanding about much of the world, from the double helix of molecular structures such as DNA, to the family tree showing genealogical roots. Maps schematize everything from subways to solar systems. I find networks of knots, dots, and lines—from simple fishing nets to the complex circuitry of a computer chip—deeply satisfying to look at.

It is therefore unsurprising that Gregory Gómez’s art enthralls me. Gómez creates networks in two and three dimensions. The work is both physically robust and conceptually rich.

The networks Gómez renders in gouache on paper, then sandblasts, can be perfect, broken, or patched, their components binary or more complex. The precision of his mark making belies its hand-drawn construction, and the sandblasting further distances the surface from the hand of the artist. In contrast, his charcoal drawings retain and display the energy of his wrist in every mark.

Gómez’s three-dimensional work is powerfully built and pulsing with vitality. The heavily textured bronze dots that comprise the surface and create volume, supported by a substructure of stainless steel, seem to float unconnected to one another. Gómez’s forms are complete in and of themselves; but they may evoke all manner of metaphysical and cultural associations, with their dynamic interplay of open/closed, positive/negative, rooted/free—even spine/skin.

— Mara Williams, Chief Curator

This exhibition includes my sculpture and charcoal drawings of similar designs. The two different approaches share a single visual language that contrasts the illusion of space in two-dimensional drawings with the real space in three-dimensional constructions.

My sandblasted gouache drawings on paper explore a similar language of connected points. Sandblasting through layers of painted surface introduces serendipity when color harmonies appear through the effaced layers. Here too is the contrast between graphic illusion and physical reality, the flat and the dimensional worlds.

My designs reference mathematics, symbology, and other iconography. They serve as metaphorical statements, and viewers are free to project their own interpretations and meaning.

— Gregory Miguel Gómez

This exhibit was made possible by the support of Robert and Nancy Donahue and the many generous donors who contributed to a Hatchfund crowd funding campaign.

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