Chapter NY is pleased to announce the third part of O u t, a rotating exhibition of works on paper by Patrick Berran on view in the gallery’s office. The gallery will present three of Berran’s recent drawings, on view for one week.

Berran’s practice relies on the transformation of visual materials though a process of constant experimentation and recycling. Beginning with observational sketches created while traveling, the artist employs various transfer techniques to evolve his original source material into abstract forms, revealing the subtle textures embedded within their surfaces. The resulting patterns have become Berran’s signature form, which he transcribes, layer upon layer, into his painted compositions. Throughout his work, frames and deconstructed grids punctuate his dense patterning to create a frenetic rhythmic quality aligned with the fast-paced and stripped-down audio experience of punk rock music.

In 2018, after Berran was diagnosed with Lymphoma, he transitioned from making large-scale paintings to smaller works on paper. When printing and painting became too physically demanding, the artist began to repurpose preexisting materials, mining his personal archive of visual data—sketches, prints, photocopies, spray painted paper, etc.—to create collages. This process marked a return to the materials that previously informed his paintings, providing an opportunity to explore the physicality of the paper itself to new ends.

In these collages, Berran revives and synthesizes his dichotomous materials, merging opaque hard-edge patterns with translucent ink washes. For Berran, each collaged element symbolizes a visual record of an artistic decision. Cut edges indicate a temporal layering process and echo the artist’s bolder geometric marks. His repurposed forms mingle in these new compositions with newfound immediacy. On view for a limited time and on rotation, these works on paper urge a ritualistic viewing process, one that—unlike typical gallery exhibitions—requires revisiting in order to be viewed in its entirety.

Patrick Berran lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from Hunter College, New York in 2006. He has had solo exhibitions at Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA; One River School of Art + Design, Englewood, NJ; HUNTER / WHITFIELD, London; White Columns, New York; and Chapter NY, New York. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Over Under, Brooklyn; Rod Bianco, Oslo; M+B Gallery, Los Angeles; Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis; and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York.