David Ostrowski and Michail Pirgelis explore intention and accident in Los Angeles exhibition

David Ostrowski and Michail Pirgelis presented their joint exhibition 'Nothing Happened' at Sprüth Magers in Los Angeles from 15 November to 23 December. Pirgelis works with decommissioned aircraft parts sourced from Mojave Desert boneyards, presenting sections like cargo-bay flooring and fuselage with minimal alteration. His pieces, such as 'Beer or wine' (2014) and 'Honey Depression' (2016), emphasize industrial materials and right angles, while 'Sam sitting' (2016) references Ellsworth Kelly. Ostrowski's large paintings, often hung from the ceiling like shoji screens, engage with abstraction through a balance of control and emptiness, though works like 'F (A thing is a thing in a whole which it's not)' (2015) nod to Frank Stella and Carl Andre. The exhibition situates both artists within a modernist tradition of intentionality and chance, tracing a lineage from Marcel Duchamp and Jackson Pollock to contemporary figures like Tino Sehgal and Wade Guyton. This review appeared in the January & February 2017 issue of ArtReview.