Spatial Relations Lookbook

In Spatial Relations, artists Denise Philipbar and Benjamin F. Weaver use geometry and abstraction to engage viewers to consider their surroundings in a new way. Their works employ both stark geometric lines— like those of the downtown skylines— and the undulation from human perspective.

Philipbar credits her study of physics and math as the experience that jump started her ability to see the world through an abstract lens. When painting, she uses non-regular geometries and the interplay of colors, shapes and lines to warp those geometries into works that elicit movement and emotion. For Weaver, the geometry itself is also secondary to the movement, relationships, and the group as a whole. He hopes that when the viewer will start to engage with how the forms are arranged and how they could possibly be rearranged, and that they will open up to the possibility of shared perspectives.

Cover Image (detail) Denise Phillipbar By All the Needs and Notions of My Kind, 2022 Oil on canvas 48 x 72” $9,000 Left Image Benjamin F. Weaver Intersecting Expansion #5, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 20” $1,440

Spatial Relations Spatial Relations

“My work is a direct expression of my innate curiosity. I learned to see through an abstract lens while studying physics and math, and so it was a natural progression for me to express my views of the world abstractly. When painting, I use non-regular geometries and the interplay of colors, shapes and lines to map my experiences onto the two dimensional plane to elicit movement and emotion.” - Denise Philipbar

Denise Philipbar is a painter and installation artist who blends the power of nature with her understanding of science and technology. Working with topics such as the panopticon as metaphor or how technology and nature collide, her installations ask viewers to question how they interact with their own experiences in our current technological landscape. Her paintings explore the formal aspects in the two dimensional plane through abstraction and process disregarding any direct references to subject matter. Philipbar learned to paint at the Art Students League of Denver, CO after completing a bachelors and a masters in Mathematics from the University of Colorado. She holds an MFA in Painting from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

(Left to right) Denise Phillipbar Realm of Gold, 2022 Oil on canvas 48 x 72” $9,000 Exhibition View Realm of Gold Denise Phillipbar

“I use sets of nonorganic geometric elements to illustrate theoretical spatial relationships between forms. The forms are often incomplete and the completion of the forms give potential movement and resolution that needs to be solved. The geometry itself is less important than the movement,relationships, and the group as a whole. I categorize my work as Geometric Spatial Abstraction. The reductive elements are built within a system that is meant to be understood within its own context.

process in getting to that viewpoint. That is where I find communion with the viewer.

When the viewer starts to engage with how the forms are arranged and how they could be reoriented, there is a shared perspective that opens a common abstract thought to be shared between us. It is not only this common viewpoint that I hope to accomplish, but a shared thought

I advance ideas about spatial relationships that have universal appeal. I am interested in the pure abstract relationships between forms and how they work aesthetically. I want the audience to be drawn into the work and be able to recontextualize the relational objects to fit their own context. This is a goal I’ve been working on for many years, the results of which are difficult to quantify. I enjoy the abstract thought necessary to create the work and the possibility of communicating those abstract ideas.”

- Benjamin F. Weaver

Interlocking #3 (detail), 2021

Acrylic on canvas

18 x 18 x 1.5”

$1.100 Suggested Cube #2, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

16 x 16”

$1,100