ANDY WARHOL – PHOTOGRAPHS & SCREEN TESTS

Posted on 2012-06-25

Warhol was extremely productive as a photographer. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s a significant body of gelatin silver prints was created, taken with a variety of compact automatic- and instant cameras. Easy to handle, they offered the opportunity to capture a candid picture at any given time or place. The resulting photographs chronicle the general public life as well as the artist’s personal obsessions and depict the USA as a country of contradictions.
His photographs draw on the democratic equality of subjects in his paintings, emphasizing Warhol’s pronounced attention to current events and his attempt to dissolve the border between art and commercialism. They feature recurring subjects such as newspaper boxes, displays in shop windows, curiosities, stereotypical images, but also the reality of social differences and poverty. Those scenes of everyday life represent the American Way of Life, which in Warhol’s photographs culminates to a distinct iconography and an eloquent portrayal of America.

A selection of twelve Screen Tests complements the current exhibition of Warhol’s filmic and photographic work. Originally, so-called screen tests are test takes of actors, which the artist developed into his very own and specific form of experimental films. The subjects of these short films are portraits of his staff members, friends and visitors at the Factory, among them the musicians Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, the actors Dennis Hopper and Baby Jane Holzer, the artists Marcel Duchamp and Paul Thek, and many more. Oscillating between the credibility and the mediated nature of an individual “image“, these cinematic portraits became fascinating documents of contemporary history, of important figures of public life, of the media, and the cultural scene.

Opposite – Table Setting, 1976

Exhibition runs through till September 2nd, 2012

Galerie Thomas Zander
Schönhauser Straße 8
50968 Cologne
Germany

www.galeriezander.com

   Tweet

ÁLVARO LAIZ – TRANSMONGOLIAN

Posted on 2012-06-25

The Secret History of the Mongols, considered to be the oldest Mongolian language literary work, is the single significant native account of Mongolia’s rise to power around the 12th century AD. Providing a clear narration of the vicissitudes that brought a disperse land of nomads to become the greatest domination in Asia, the work paints a clear portrait of the journey taken by a young Temuiin before transforming into, the great ruler of Asia, Genghis Khan.

Blended with fictional and historical accounts, the epic poetry and narrative, recounts how the warrior was able to organize more than thirty tribes battling for control, and how once in power, with the objective to augment his population and face his enemies, declared homosexuality illegal under death penalty.

Today, more than eight hundred years later, Mongolia is a sovereign country with the lowest population rate in the world, lower than two inhabitants per square kilometre and being a homosexual, continues to be taboo. The weight of tradition and the years under Soviet control, a time in which homosexuals were sent to gulag, surmise a ballast for gays, lesbians, and transsexuals, who continue to be repressed, rejected, and victimized. Condemned to a life of secrecy, many of them find themselves turning to prostitution, others lead a life of solitude. The younger wrestle to flee the Mongolian borders, to countries such as the Philippines or Japan, where their ‘condition’ is much more tolerable and dreams of a sex change are attainable, but above all, to an identity which in their native land, has been denied way too long.

Exhibition runs through till July 27th, 2012

Galería Fúcares Madrid
Conde de Xiquena, 12 1º Izq
28004 Madrid
Spain

www.fucares.com

   Tweet

INTA RUKA – THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER

Posted on 2012-06-25

For three decades now, Inta Ruka has been producing various series in which she portrays with characteristic empathy the people from rural and urban areas alike. To this end, she directs her gaze exclusively towards her fellow countrymen. She works with a 1937 6x6cm Rolleiflex aided by a tripod, but foregoes the use of artificial lighting.

The photographer meets her subjects outside their homes either at random or during arranged meetings, on the street, in courtyards or gardens. As a result, increasing familiarity triggers changes in the environment, in which the portrait is taken. Her subjects’ living conditions often play a decisive role in Inta Ruka’s photographs and simultaneously allow for an assessment of their personal relationship. Notwithstanding this aspect, the artist tends to opt for full-length portraits, semi-long shots, or close-ups. And so, the artist creates highly atmospheric silver-gelatine prints in 35 x 33 cm. For the most part, Ruka positions her subjects in a similar way to the Old Masters, namely at the centre of the frame. Despite their calm pose, sitting or standing, it still seems like a conversation had been taking place at the moment the photograph was shot.The beholder’s mistaken gaze, in combination with Inta Ruka’s personal dairy entries, which she has written on the walls beneath the photos in the exhibition, not only afford insights into the subject’s external surroundings but into their inner world too. Ruka’s sensitive, time-consuming, yet calm working process allows the masterful artist make staged photos appear completely spontaneous.

Opposite – Undine Audijane, Lundis Zamerovskis, 2005

Exhibition runs through till August 30th, 2012

Baukunst Galerie
Theodor-Heuss-Ring 7
D – 50668 Cologne
Germany

www.baukunst-galerie.de

   Tweet