| Exhibition July 28th to August 15th 2009 Opening Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 (5-7 pm) |
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sanchez
(ARGENTINA)The world that Sánchez recreates in each of her photos turns into images, into a reality that belongs to her as much as it belongs to us. The great protagonist is the skin: continent, frontier, mask and, at the same time, mirror, tabula rasa on which every second of our lives is printed, as well as the ways we choose to take. Skin records, just as the camera, each and every one of those marks which become more intense as time goes by. Liliana chooses to retell a story that involves the female genre; she chooses to show herself as the interpreter of her own scenes. The plastic treatment of the photos makes us enjoy those bodies, outlined, drawn and modified by skin marks, while facing similar images approached from various perspectives and chromatic combinations. However, at times we are pervaded by a feeling of deprivation and angst as we look at works that present bodies hard to believe they are alive. The magic of photography succeeds in confusing our senses…those pieces of skin, so carefully and strategically placed. These are the foundations of an autobiographical work that speaks of the artist’s life, even if she is not searching to put it into words.
oetting
(AUSTRIA)It's all about fun - I guess this is the most important thing in my life (apart from my wife), since I realised that there is nobody on earth who can really explain why we live and why we have the ability to consider and reflect. So I decided to have fun in my life and I'm working hard on it. The act of taking the photos, the shooting itself is one part, and the results when a new project is finished is the second. What keeps me searching and gives me satisfaction at the same time, is the combination of everyday things, situations, cloth or people in new and surprising context. I like playing around with an idea, letting things happen and getting inspiration from everywhere putting things together in a way they haven't been seen before. Sometimes I have a clear image in my mind when I start on a new project but most of the time I just have an idea of an idea and it is very exciting where it leads me to while I am working on it. But the result has to contain this context of normal people or things in unusual situations or the other way round. On the technical side, I don't care much about cameras or studio light equipment at all, though I'm extremely well equipped (maybe that's the reason why). The most important tools and materials are the right models, the correct amount of artificial light and a little photoshop to create the looks I want. I like working with additional flashlight during daytime to add a surreal flavour and to make things look hyperrealistic from time to time. This goes hand in hand with a little computer manipulation, like carefully reducing the colours or establishing contrast. These are just tools to support the whole idea, to bring it to life, to make people think and maybe to brush a little smile on their faces by adding a little fun to their lives.
majdandzic
(NETHERLANDS)In his paintings, the artist tries to incorporate the notion that life reflects order in encounter with chaos, and that it is embodied in the earth and its “geology”. This geology is characterized by orderly structured crystals on the one hand, and dynamic processes like erosion on the other. Referring to geological models, Majdandzic uses the interplay between geometrical forms (these forms being a metaphor for crystals) and flowing paint (representing erosion processes acting on these crystals) to generate a certain unintended picture, which resembles a potential landscape. But more than a picture of nature, his paintings are meant as a picture that mirrors the way in which our brains function. That is, the paintings form a display of simple structures from which our visual system actively constructs an image – corresponding to how our brain constructs an image of our environment from a set of basic parameters. This picture, Majdandzic proposes, is a real “intelligent design”, embodied in our bodies, by which we perceive, imagine, and understand the world. For us, structuring the space around us is essential, since our bodies have to interact with our environment. In short, the concepts or “crystals” of our minds are rooted in our bodies, resembling the way in which material crystals are rooted in the body of earth, where they can resolve and recrystallize. In both these neural and geological processes, and in the paintings, nature follows its own way (or Tao, as the Chinese call it).
JOHNS
(AUSTRALIA)I paint therefore I am. I look at society in Australia and the world and I see an almost senseless desire for stuff. As said by Zorba in that famous film Zorba the Greek: "I am married, wife, children, house... The full catastrophe!" Such is life in the suburbs of Australia. They pile up the debt and buy like there is no tomorrow. The stuff piles up, then it's obsolete stuff, then it's thrown out to make room for new stuff. In my exhibition, 'Pseudo Symbolism' my subjects are mesmerized, hypnotized, engrossed by their strange manufactured objects. In some cases the objects obscure their vision but they continue to gather their strange objects with a religious fervor. Strange people in strange places holding strange objects, a metaphor for consumerism. The other part of my exhibition, I call 'Landmark Landmarks' This is a pop art look at cultural, political, religious architectural monuments to our greatness. I take a God's eye view of some of the worlds most famous architectural masterpieces. I manipulate them in my computer and then I paint the result in oil on canvas, the old and the new coming together in a fauve kind of way. They are bright, colorful tribal metaphors for our modern civilization. They say to me it doesn't matter how grand our monuments to ourselves as humans go, there is always an underlying savagery in our societies.
de Gramont
(FRANCE)De Gramont's work is based on our perception of space. His compositions are formed with light and geometry. The use of light and shadow, the play on contrast, is what pulls the eye to each piece. The compositions of Gramont's photographs leave you running free with your imagination. The notion of time disappears, like a voyage between reality and fiction. The light reverses the emptiness/fullness and elongates/shortens the space and structure.
