Spandrel Spaces: The Art of In-between

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Behind the Brush: A Two-Month Conversation between 3t Vakil & Gessie Houghton on The Spandrel Spaces Series. Painting is often seen only in its finished form, framed on a wall. But what about the moments in between—the decisions, doubts, and discoveries that shape each work? In this interview, 3t Vakil—artist, Director of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and Director of its consulted biomic project Las Casas de la Selva in Puerto Rico—speaks with Gessie Houghton, (Art writer for October Gallery), about process, inspiration, and the role of painting as both exploration and discipline. It’s a conversation about color, chaos, and clarity, and how art connects to a wider life of ecology and creative practice.

Institute of Ecotechnics director, Gerard Houghton is a writer, art critic, and videographer based in London. Graduating from Churchill College, Cambridge, he spent two years in West Africa working as an interpreter. In 1980, he moved to Japan, where he taught literature and linguistics at two of Japan’s more prestigious universities. On his return to London, in 1994, he became Director of Special Projects at October Gallery, a central London gallery specializing in contemporary art from around the planet. As well as writing essays, articles, and catalogues, he has edited a number of publications on the many international artists October Gallery represents.

He interviewed 3T Vakil on her new series of paintings called Spandrel spaces

Description of the Spandrel Spaces exhibition

In May 2025, the Museo de Arte e Historia Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos in Patillas, Puerto Rico, hosted Spandrel Spaces: The Art of In-between, the first exhibition of the year by artist, and Institute of Ecotechnics director, 3T Vakil.

The exhibition featured more than 30 paintings completed during 2024 and early 2025, all shown publicly for the first time. Rooted in the landscapes of Patillas, where Vakil also directs Las Casas de la Selva, a long-term sustainable forestry project in the surrounding rainforest, the works underscored her deep connection between art, ecology, and place.

The title Spandrel Spaces draws from both architectural and evolutionary theory. In architecture, a spandrel refers to the space formed incidentally between structural elements, while in biology the term describes features that arise as unintended byproducts of adaptation. This dual framework informed the exhibition’s exploration of thresholds—between form and formlessness, order and collapse, chaos and emergence.

Many of the canvases reflected close observation of the rainforest environment, translating sensory experience into abstract visual form. Others turned inward, probing psychological terrain and unseen energies that influence perception and lived experience. A number of works adopted titles in the form of invented Latin binomials, suggesting a taxonomy for inner states or speculative species, while others evoked more turbulent, elemental forces.

By situating Spandrel Spaces in Patillas, 3T emphasized a sense of homecoming—presenting a body of work shaped by, and now returned to, the community and landscape where it was created.