At the 39th Floor

2020
Collage on board
25.40 x 20.32 cm (individual pieces)
70 x 50 cm (framed)

Amidst the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Gary-Ross Pastrana produced a compelling set of collages showcased within Silverlens’ Anticipating the Day exhibit, a collection reflecting the creative responses of artists during this unprecedented period. Pastrana’s collage practice curiously began after art school, as he took on small graphic and set design jobs, where the need to hone his compositional skills became apparent. Having studied under Roberto Chabet, Pastrana looked to the act of cutting and pasting paper fragments as a personal exercise—a way of getting better at arranging disparate elements into a cohesive whole. Some 20 years later, this exercise has steadily evolved into its own body of work, a narrative of forms with its own visual language.