Thresholds, Satellite Project Space, London CA

Threshold, noun, – “The level at which something starts to happen or have an effect” or “the point just before a new situation.”

In abstract terms, the word threshold refers to the anticipation of something. In physical terms, it is a demarcation; the separating of one space from another. It is Old English in origin and related to the German dialect Drischaufel the first part of which means ‘tread’.

The works in this show combine these two aspects of the word ‘threshold’. The painted works are reductive. The erased gestures in the paintings reveal layers beneath the surface; evidence of time past offset against the speed of the painting’s final execution. Steel sheets on the floor trace the movement of people through the gallery and form barricades on the walls uncertain of whether they keep us in or out. Colour acts as a relational concern drawing connections between things within the exhibition’s interior as well as making allusions to an exterior elementality.

Philip Gurrey was born in the UK and lives and works in Canada. Gurrey has exhibited across the UK, in France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Canada and the US. His works are included in the Fondation Francès collection (France), the Mercer Art Gallery collection (UK) the Pathfoot Collection (Scotland) and the British Airways Collection (UK), as well as private collections around the World.