Beers Contemporary: Leonardo Ulian Exhibition 2013: one of the most enlightening and captivating exhibitions I had the chance to attend in the past couple of months took place at Beers Contemporary Art. This new space built exclusively for art exhibitions is located one minute from the Old Street roundabout, an area full of history and close to the fashionable area of Hoxton, itself bursting with art galleries and restaurants. The area is also referred to as the “Silicon Roundabout”, owing to the existence of myriad tech companies thereabouts.

I visited Leonardo Ulian’s first solo exhibition entitled ‘Sacred Space’, which was composed of extraordinary symmetrical prints that were digitally mastered from computer components, circuitry and microchips. Ulian has adopted the complexly patterned Buddhist and Hindu enlightenment symbol to construct his own series of ‘mandalas’ from precisely arranged electrical materials. Through these new costructions, Ulian gives new life to these disused electrical components, a feeling of “metaphysical enlightenment” as mentioned by the artist himself. Coming in different shapes and placed over black and white backgrounds, each ‘mandala’ connected in a different manner to the individual. Interestingly, the artist used to be a technician before turning to art.

Ulian’s attention to detail and symmetry are stunning. When leaving the gallery I noticed a beautiful three-dimensional bonsai tree entitled ‘Centrica Bonsai’, placed strategically near the entrance of the gallery, and one of the many stunning pieces of Ulian’s showcase.