Lateralus

Leo Koenig Inc. is pleased to announce the fifth solo exhibition of new paintings by Torben Giehler. Giehler is known for his geometric abstractions, influenced by futuristic universes, and finished with mathematical precision. In a departure from the vibrant color palette and electrified vortex of his previous paintings, these new works extend a zen-like calm, alchemically fusing the synapses of the human brain to the grids and networks of digitized technology.

Like past exhibitions, Giehler’s current show gains inspiration from music, specifically the album “Lateralus” by the band Tool. Trance-inducing, deliberately methodical, the song by the same title bases its musical structure on the Fibonacci numerical sequence. This sequence adds to the previous number, visually translating to a spiral within a rectangle. The sum of this rectangle’s opposite sides equals the Divine Proportion, which is a mathematical constant occurring throughout nature, its fullest realization being the human form. This proportion has been used by countless artists and architects, from its first recording by Euclid in 300 BC, to the works of da Vinci, Dali, Mondrian and Le Corbousier and achieves what is believed to be aesthetic harmony. Similarly, Giehler’s new work streamlines the frenetic energy of his earlier, chimerical landscapes, into more ethereal compositions. They seem to have taken flight, levitating from earth- bound constructs eliciting a constant, pulsating hum.

Torben Giehler was born in 1973 in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, and lives and works in Berlin. He is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has been awarded the Falkenrot Preis from the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, is the recipient of the James William Paige Fund and the Clarissa Bartlett Scholarship and has recently exhibited at the Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA, Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris and Galerie Six Friedrich, Munich. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, the Deste Foundation Centre For Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece, the Wolfsburg Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany, and Kunsthaus of Zurich, Switzerland.