A never-ending rainbow: Sarah Boris explores the power of modular art in major solo exhibition

The celebrated artist and designer presents After the Rain, a vibrant exploration of modular art, sculpture and colour that celebrates creativity, resilience, and the endless possibilities of the rainbow.

Artist and designer Sarah Boris is known for her ability to seamlessly straddle the worlds of art and graphic design, and her latest project is her most ambitious yet. After the Rain, now showing at Le Bel Ordinaire in France, marks her first major institutional solo exhibition, bringing together three years of work rooted in colour, form and modular experimentation.

Le Bel Ordinaire is one of the few institutions that merges contemporary art and graphic design, making it the perfect setting for Boris, whose career has evolved from working with leading UK arts organisations to running her own studio, producing both commissioned design work and personal artistic practice.

In After the Rain, she unveils 104 modular pencil drawings, multiple sculptures, and a series of artist books, including Rainbow and After the Rain, the latter of which was recently published in France to coincide with a solo show at Hatch Galerie in Le Havre. The book, entirely screenprinted, invites the reader to create their own compositions, offering a playful introduction to modular thinking that resonates across the exhibition.

At the heart of the show is Boris’s largest sculpture to date, spanning three metres wide and made up of colour-shifting segments that explore endless permutations. Originally conceived as a paper model, the piece evolved into a fully realised structure that encapsulates the spirit of the exhibition: an open-ended celebration of possibility, imagination and post-crisis renewal.

The seeds for the series were first sown during a residency when Boris juxtaposed two of her Rainbow books and began exploring new visual sequences. The rainbow – widely embraced in the UK during the pandemic as a symbol of hope – became the anchor for her evolving body of work. From this, a cascade of ideas emerged, spanning drawing, sculpture, furniture, and books.

Boris, who has previously designed for institutions like the ICA, Tate, and Thames & Hudson, brings her graphic sensibility into every facet of the show. Her modular compositions tap into the visual logic of design systems while offering something far more poetic and rooted in contemporary art.

As the title After the Rain suggests, the show proposes a glimmer of colour after a dark time. “It’s an open-ended idea,” Boris explains. “But one that brings energy, optimism and renewal — through colour, form, and the joy of making.”