The book Opaque Surfaces presents the rich oeuvre of Michail Pirgelis spanning more than 20
years. It is the artist's first monograph to focus on works that address the painterly aspect
of his sculptural oeuvre and locate them in the context of Land Art Minimal Art and
Conceptual Art. Pirgelis sources his material from airplanes decommissioned carcasses mostly
found in the Mojave Desert. However in a process of meticulous abstraction he subverts the
specificity of the airplane's husk. His method engages shape and surface head-on exposing
marginal details and working toward the bare aluminum. The artist explores the limits of our
understanding of objects and radically expands our experience of the sculptural.
