One of the dictionary definitions of the word prospect is a “broad view or a place affording such a view.” For his first solo show at Platform Gallery, Eric Eley has created a living drawing that becomes a field for a view. Seeing an opportunity to go beyond simply placing discrete objects in the white box of the gallery, Eley has created an environment that puts the viewer literally inside the sculptural object by delineating the space within the entire gallery. With no way to see the work in profile or from afar, one is instead given the opportunity to powerfully experience space as a three dimensional drawing.

Eric’s resin drawings, works on paper, and sculptures are informed by his fascination with the rational language used in physics and higher mathematics. His analytical use of lines and points allows him to arrange elements in space in order to provide a unique way of seeing. His materials are deceptively simple—string, wire, wood, dry pigment, graphite, resin. With these materials, the artist confronts the limitations of time, space, and physical effort while incorporating or discarding the benefits and drawbacks of those limitations. In his practice, Eley balances physical labor and intellectual work. He is truly an “analog” artist, one who physically moves in space, up and down a ladder, back and forth from wall to wall, rather than plotting elements on a computer screen. He is a thinker, delighting in the usually unseen connections that exist in any given atmosphere. His work is both landscape and architecture. Not a natural landscape but a landscape of articulated space. Not static architecture, but an exploded view of perspective and scale.

Eric holds an MFA from the University of Washington. His work has been included in group shows in the Kunsthaus Hamburg and the Outdoor Sculpture Projects at Volta03 in Basel, Switzerland. He has also had solo shows at Gallery4Culture, the Hedreen Gallery at the Lee Center for the Arts, both in Seattle, and the Kolva/Sullivan Gallery in Spokane. He mounted a solo show at Art Agents Gallery in Hamburg, Germany in 2008 and his work was included in the group show Unnatural Presence at Platform in 2006.

Link to artist's CV

114 Third Avenue South, Seattle
Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 11AM to 5:30PM

Member, Seattle Art Dealers Association

Follow Platform on Facebook and Twitter.

All content copyright 2010 Platform Gallery LLC and the artists.