Artist Bo Droga presents “Urban Landscapes: A Road to Nowhere,” on view at Olsen Gruin’s Orchard Street gallery in New York City through Jan. 13. The Australian sculptor-designer works with a range of materials drawn from the specific sites and raw resources available to him. This New York exhibition features 14 geometric cityscapes that are abstract, three-dimensional compositions crafted from wood, particleboard, fiberboard and acrylic mounted on PVC plastic.
Droga’s practice is rooted in a fascination with urban environments and the tension between order and chaos within them. His “Urban Landscapes” series examines how form and space interact and how artworks relate to the environments that surround them. The concept grew from a recurring impression he gets when looking out of an airplane window: the ground below shifts from anonymous patterning into distinct places and structures, prompting him to consider how individual elements combine to create a cityscape.
Each piece in the show is mounted so that a flat plane becomes a stage for sculptural forms that rise and define implied skylines, streets and blocks. The work encourages viewers to reinterpret everyday urban features through abstraction and geometry, inviting imaginative readings of familiar scenes while maintaining a strong architectural sensibility.
Droga adapts materials in ways that emphasize texture and construction, using layered boards and acrylic surfaces to suggest depth, shadow and movement across miniature city grids. The restrained palettes and precise edges highlight the tension between manufactured order and organic irregularity, reflecting the complex visual language of modern cities.
His approach balances formal discipline with playful exploration: while compositions are tightly resolved, they also allow for open-ended interpretation. Viewers can engage with the pieces as models of urban planning, as studies in light and perspective, or simply as abstract arrangements that evoke the rhythm of streets and buildings.
Bo Droga’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including The Peterborough Museum in the United Kingdom and The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. He has received recognition and awards such as the Fiji Art Award, support from the Australian High Commission, and the 2018 Ellies Award in Miami. “Urban Landscapes: A Road to Nowhere” offers a concise survey of his interest in materiality, space and the visual dynamics of cities, making the Orchard Street show a focused and thought-provoking encounter with contemporary sculptural urbanism.