Artist Bio
Baltimore-based Becky Borlan is a public artist who produces large-scale works that utilize light and color to spark reverence and wonder. Her installations are playful, vibrant, and whimsical. Applying the curiosity of a child to question everything, she dabbles with lots of different materials, she paints with the very expressive parts of color theory, and loops, bobs, weaves together forms to unite them into a concise and clear invitation to explore without judgment.
Becky has been working in public art since 2009, first as studio manager for artist Janet Echelman, creating city-scaled public art installations, then as a project manager for DC based artist Steven Weitzman, integrating aesthetic enhancements into transportation infrastructure. These foundational experiences encouraged her to pursue public art, particularly large-scale sculpture and suspended works.
She has created works for DC Public Schools, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts, and the City of Asheville, North Carolina. She is currently working on a sculpture for The Park School of Baltimore.
…. However she is always ready to share her artistic vision and create playful installations for others.
Artist Statement
My public sculptures act as visual puzzles that invite the viewer to pause, explore and play. The tension between order and chaos, presented in kaleidoscopic color pull the viewer into a fully saturated whimsical realm. Drawing from a variety of artistic references like stained glass, color theory, and geometric abstractionism, my artworks posit that play has the power to tap into joy that transforms our own lives and others. Constructing with a range of materials, simple modular forms are pieced together to create complex visual phenomena that can be appreciated by young and old.
Press
Interview with Washington City Paper
For me public art is about accessibility. It’s creating an artwork where a lot of people can see it. It’s not rarified. I feel like galleries can be kind of intimidating spaces sometimes, so I like the idea of public art existing in the world where people can encounter it unexpectedly and have an experience that is just outside of their norm.
Art reveals a creative, historical side to Foggy Bottom neighborhood, Washington Post
Becky Borlan’s “Bricks” reflects the history of masonry in Foggy Bottom. Bold and colorful, the piece depicts a brick wall, albeit one made entirely of transparent acrylic.
(e)merge art fair at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, Washington Post
The work — called “Too Much Is Never Enough,” after the title of Lapidus’s autobiography — is meant to be fun, not heavy, Borlan says. “I think [Lapidus] really, really believed that phrase,” she says. “He gilded the lily, and then he added another bouquet.”
My technique is more fluid. Depending on the project, I’m either responding to a particular site or material, sometimes both. So I try to let that guide the creative process. With public art, there are usually certain constraints inherent to the situation, and I actually enjoy figuring out how to work within them because it keeps me on my toes. It forces me to look beyond the obvious answers.