In the exhibition On Borrowed Eyes, Stephen Kent presents a new series of mosaic wall reliefs which record everyday moments within our surroundings. Cardboard boxes, clothing racks, building facades and other daily motifs are printed onto aluminum panels and inlaid with mosaic tiles, re-enchanting, overlooked corners of our visual world. In his second solo exhibition at the gallery, Kent continues to explore the notion of “overlooking”, of staring at the familiar until it turns into something unfamiliar.

“When I was a child, I would often sit for hours in my mother’s living room, staring at objects until they shifted in some way, becoming something that was other than themselves. I never thought anything of these small exercises, until a distinct happening in my first year of studies. In a specific moment I recall leaving the classroom, only to stumble into a world full of endless compositions and unfolding perspectives. It felt like something simultaneously had broken, but also had become alive. Nothing ever appeared dull, uninteresting, or boring. Instead, everything and every object had a vibrancy which felt incredibly overwhelming. It is as if there was a cosmic actor, continuously making new marks over the canvas of my observed reality. The works presented here are an ode to this moment, of feeling like one is outside themselves, noticing what is being noticed, and letting the world in.”

Stephen Kent (b. 1985, Pennsylvania, USA, lives and works in Berlin) works around ideas of resolution and image production through the decorative gesture and the exploration of cultural codes embedded in everyday objects. In his ceramics, paintings and mosaics the artist demonstrates his engagement with psychedelic culture and comparative mythology. With a medium-reflexive approach, he uses a process-oriented language to humorously investigate the stuff our world is made of. It remains a staged clash of ancient and digital pixels, an ironic montage of high and mass culture with an inquisitive wink.