Untitled (Monday & Tuesday), steel, lacquer

Berlin-based artist Eva Berendes creates artworks that serve both as divisions of space and objects in their own right. Mimicking the forms of folding room dividers, playground equipment, shop kiosk hangers and more, the artist distills common functional designs into their basic geometric forms.

Untitled (Osaka), installation view at Bold Tendencies, London

I find the grid design that appears in Berendes works quite attractive – whether it’s a black and white square grid serving as the background of a work, or simply a highly structured design that seems to reference such a geometric basis, there is a mathematical undertone to almost all of Berendes’ works.

Berendes likes to use objects and structures that allude to commercialism or a functionality that is outside of art. In her room divider pieces, she creates long walls, sometimes made from a grid that takes the appearance of wire mesh, and other times with fabric that completely obscures what might be behind the work. In a few very large divider pieces, the fabric is patterned with geometric shapes that seem to solidify the object’s status as art by referencing art history. 

Untitled, cotton, metal rail