Beth Letain Preview Bring the Ground to You

Peres Projects is pleased to announce the third solo exhibition of Beth Letain (b. 1976 in Canada) with the gallery, which will open in April at our Milan space.  As a former biologist, Beth Letain is interested in systems and procedure, and draws upon a lexicon of minimalist geometric forms which reference circuitry, portals, and mitosis – all points of transfer, duplication, and connection. While relentlessly pursuing the minimal forms which preoccupy her, Letain embraces mistakes and uncertainty in her work. She first works through her ideas via preparatory sketches on paper, a rapid process that allows for the sense of buoyant rhythm found in her final works. After building up coats of primed surface, she later translates these early studies into layers of hand-mixed gesso and oil paint on canvas, that she then sands down to create a rich, velvety surface. The gestural final strokes of bright paint playfully contrast her deliberately slow technique. As well, in Letain’s visual field, white is not empty space, but functional and full of depth: the artist is fascinated by the possibilities contained within limitation, both in materials and in visual composition, and her method lends an incredible richness to the abstractions she paints. Recent solo exhibitions include Leeahn Gallery, Seoul (2022), L21, Palma de Mallorca (2021), Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke (2020), Peres Projects, Berlin (2019), and Pace Gallery, London (2018). She has also presented her work in numerous group exhibitions, including the Friedrichs Foundation, Weidingen (2021), and Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen, curated by Christian Malycha (2018). Letain’s work has been reviewed in leading critical publications including Artforum, FlashArt, ArtNews, and Border Crossings.