'Observations from the Unknown' was Owen Gildersleeve's first US solo exhibition, held at Argonaut Gallery in San Francisco. The artworks and subsequent show was informed by nine years of groundbreaking celestial data gathered by the NASA Kepler Spacecraft, which coincidentally ceased it's mission during the course of the exhibition.

These seemingly abstract pieces tell the tale of newly discovered solar systems and exoplanets; planets that orbit stars outside of our own solar system. To celebrate Kepler's nine year mission Owen selected nine of its greatest findings to visualise for this exhibition. 

Owen decided to visualise his chosen findings using series of forms, rings, starburst and swirls that represent details such as the orbital periods, mass, radius and age, taking the viewer on their own journey around the artwork. He brought the pieces to life using hand-crafted layers constructed from a mixture of physical papercuttings and experimental materials. The result is a series of deeply layered pieces playing with scale and hierarchy, that communicate data from Kepler’s mission whilst abstractly spelling out the names of each planet and star system featured. 

The handcut artworks were exhibited across the West Coast of the US during 2018, alongside a selection of new large-scale artworks, pushing his handcrafted layered style into exciting new territories. At Argonaut Gallery, where the exhibition first opened, Owen also held a course of workshops which allowed visitors the chance to try out some paper-cutting themselves.