White and Black Cells with Conduits

The geometry of Peter Halley’s works mimics the rigid, structural relationship of forms found in modern technology. Adapting Mondrian’s style of minimalist quadrilateral shapes for a contemporary audience, Halley links the forms of White and Black Cells with Conduits to the components of an electrical system. The color of the “conduits” below the black and white cells resembles a strip of copper wiring. The polarity of the black cell and white cells has an effect similar to the negative and positive elements of a battery. As in most of Halley’s work, the “cells” of White and Black Cells with Conduits are a double entendre. The isolating nature of Halley’s canvases, evident in the use of contrasting colors and the division of forms equally along the pictorial plane, also bears a resemblance to prison-like spaces. In this interpretation, the conduits begin to appear like bars on a cell. Halley believed that this geometric system of cells pervaded our lives both physically and psychologically. He wrote in 1997, “I saw it as a world characterized by efficiency, by regimentation of movement, and by the rationalization of all social structures and bureaucracies, whether in the corporation, government, or university” (P. Halley, “Geometry and the Social,” Recent Essays 1990-1996, New York, p. 20). White and Black Cells with Conduits is significant for its representation of the mechanisms of modern society and the cell-like structure that is the basis of electrical technology and organic beings.