NATALIE GUY

Brise Soleil, 2021
Power-coated aluminium
Three-part sculpture (each piece 2900mm x 400mm x 150mm)
Price on application

During an artist residency and trip to India in 2017, Natalie Guy encountered the work of British architect and modernist pioneer, Jane Drew. Guy was particularly drawn to an elementary school designed in Chandigarh, 1956, which used a series of loosely interlocking pillars to provide a shield from the sun whilst allowing breeze to flow through. 

Guy’s Brise Soleil (Sun Breaker) takes inspiration from Drew’s design whilst referencing the familiar ‘breeze block’ form and exploring how architecture can be both functional and visually captivating. Placed at the foot of the Kauri climb and finished in an iridescent green-gold, Brise Soleil mimics the essential role of trees as resilient wind-blockers and sun-shaders.

Guy explains: “Brise Soleil straddles environmental and climate concerns by jogging memories of modernist architecture whilst de-familiarising them. In this new unexpected context, breeze and shade cannot be controlled.”