MODERN EQUATIONS

Dennis Gilbert needs no introduction to the architectural community. We have all come to appreciate his unerring eye in recording our built environment and his ability to uncover the character and soul of many architectural landmarks. Trained originally as an engineer Gilbert started out depicting everyday rural life of his native apartheid South Africa. Over time he has captured the most representative samples of contemporary architecture in Europe, America and Asia recording lasting and memorable portraits that have produced an unadulterated account of the last two decades of 20th century architecture. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Gilbert is able to resist the temptation of hijacking his objects; he abstains from superimposing an attention seeking and unrelated aesthetic onto them. Rather he brings out the essence of each individual building. But with this collection Gilbert aims for something altogether different. In contrast with the format of the architectural magazine that serializes impressions of architectural significance, here he rearranges and re-presents the material he has gathered over the years in a new context. Images from a wide spectrum of periods and styles are matched and juxtaposed. There is no chronological structure or regional order,

no claim of completeness. Occasionally there is the hint of a theme if only in a metaphorical sense. But more often he surprises and delights with the unpredictability in which he sets images against one another. Gilbert is guided solely by recurring patterns of light and colour, materiality and texture and in particular by the spirituality of his buildings. As with works of music or poetry this treatment heightens the sensitivity and takes the viewer back and forth through tension and harmony. Gilberts compositions challenge the habitual war of styles. Details of buildings originating from sometimes diametrically opposed conceptual positions complement each other side by side. His associations force the viewer to overcome initial feelings of prejudice and lead him to reflect with deeper curiosity. The resulting combinations far exceed the summary of their constituent parts thus taking comparisons between the objects onto a different plane. Whilst the subject of his investigation is threedimensional, Gilbert stays true to the two-dimensional nature of his media and pushes its reductive qualities to new limits. As a result he enriches our perceptions and the way we look at and feel about buildings, creating an independent aesthetic in its own right. Bernhard Blauel

Modern Equations 28.6.04