Artist in Focus: Eli Bornstein

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Blaine Campbell Photo: Blaine Campbell

Eli Bornstein, "Quadraplane Structurist Relief, No. 15 II," 2016–2017

acrylic enamel on aluminum, 122 x 137 x 15.25 cm. Remai Modern Collection. Gift of the artist, 2017. Photo: Blaine Campbell.

Remai Modern is pleased to host a new exhibition of works by Saskatoon artist Eli Bornstein. Now 96, Bornstein has had an active art practice for more than 70 years.

Artist in Focus: Eli Bornstein traces his development into abstraction, from watercolours influenced by Impressionism, to various iterations of his constructed reliefs. Finished works, maquettes and sketches from Remai Modern’s collection and the artist’s personal collection offer a glimpse into his seven-decade career.

“Eli’s ability to translate his experience of nature into constructed reliefs is very compelling. There’s something almost musical about experiencing his compositions, which are meticulously created to evoke qualities of light one experiences in nature,” said Sandra Fraser, Curator (Collections). “Eli Bornstein’s long teaching career at the University of Saskatchewan embedded him in Saskatoon’s creative community and allowed him the freedom to follow his own course as an artist.”

Bornstein is best known for his Structurist reliefs, rooted in a tradition of early 20^th-century geometric abstraction. Bornstein encourages viewers to slow down in order to experience the subtle nuances of colour as it responds to the light around it.

Eli Bornstein has played an important role at both Remai Modern and its predecessor, the Mendel Art Gallery. He was the first artist featured in a solo exhibition at the Mendel in the 1960s and, in 2017, his work Quadraplane Structurist Relief, No. 15 II, was part of the Remai Modern’s inaugural exhibition Field Guide. Bornstein donated the piece to the museum’s collection.

About Eli Bornstein

Eli Bornstein (b. 1922) is originally from Wisconsin. He came to Saskatoon in 1950, when he started teaching in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1960 Bornstein founded the journal The Structurist, Canada’s longest-running art journal.

Bornstein’s contributions were most recently acknowledged when he became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019.

His large-scale commissions include pieces at the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, Regina’s Wascana Centre Authority and the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon.