ORI GERSHT – FLOATING WORLD

Posted on 2016-05-02

Working from his London studio, Gersht has gained international recognition over the past fifteen years for his eye-catching still-lifes and landscapes, in which he revisits history, journeys and places often defined by trauma. Tensions between past and present, beauty and violence, creation and destruction continue to inhabit Gersht’s distinct visual language, expressed through a set of coded references and metaphors.

In November 2015 Gersht began work on his Floating World series in Japan, visiting and photographing the ancient gardens in Buddhist Zen temples in and around Kyoto. Created to reflect the essence of nature and as aids to meditation, these gardens are places where time stands still and history is palpable. For Gersht they represent an alternative to our image saturated ‘world in flux’. Gersht focused his lens on water reflections and during the post-production process seamlessly fused reflections with the reflected world to create illusions and a new reality, hovering between what he calls the virtual and material. In these works we are presented with the absence of the object of representation whereby the photograph becomes the thing that exists, an image of the folding of space and time. Much like in his earlier landscape series, Gersht intends to document something that is not physically present.

Opposite – Floating World, A Matter of Life and Death 01, 2016

Exhibition runs through to June 16th, 2016

Ben Brown Fine Arts
12 Brook’s Mews
London
W1K 4DG

www.antonkerngallery.com

  

BEN SLEDSENS – PULLING ROPES AND RINGING BELLS

Posted on 2016-05-02

His practice divides, consciously if not skillfully, into traditional genres such as portraits, interiors and landscapes. Sledsens invites us to consider the thoughts of the people, places and events that populate his vivid scenarios, whether they exist in private or public realms, in personal or shared experiences. His tempting contexts seduce by intertwining multiple narratives in a single work, making the viewing that much more entranced and involved. Sledsens translates his personal subject matter into poetic or romantic images, with an open beginning and ending, meant for interpretation by the spectator. In his work Unexpected Journey one might see a metaphor for the process of painting, measuring the gaps between painting as an individual pursuit and a shared experience, while another viewing conjures an equally dynamic emotion or narrative. All his works hide subtle links to each other, which only amplifies the works’ underlying ambiguous significance while he creates a bigger fictitious world together.

Central to the work is his profound understanding of painterly tradition. His large format canvases exist in a long tradition of painting that reference Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, yet his works are part of a bigger poetic universe that is all his own.

Opposite – Bye Bye Dog, 2016

Exhibition runs through till June 18th, 2016

Tim Van Laere Gallery
Verlatstraat 23-25
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium

www.timvanlaeregallery.com

  

UGO RONDINONE – SEVEN MAGIC MOUNTAINS

Posted on 2016-05-02

Renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s colorful large-scale, public artwork Seven Magic Mountains is a two-year exhibition located in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring seven thirty to thirty-five-foot high dayglow totems comprised of painted, locally-sourced boulders.

Visible across the desert landscape along Interstate 15, Seven Magic Mountains offers a creative critique of the simulacra of destinations like Las Vegas. According to Rondinone, the location is physically and symbolically mid-way between the natural and the artificial: the natural is expressed by the mountain ranges, desert, and Jean Dry Lake backdrop, and the artificial is expressed by the highway and the constant flow of traffic between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Seven Magic Mountains is produced by the Art Production Fund, New York and Nevada Museum of Art, Reno. Approximately 10 miles south of the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway in Henderson, the installation site is a short distance from Jean Dry Lake where Michael Heizer and Jean Tinquely created legendary land art works in the 1960s. Many of the project’s public programs will take place at ARIA Resort & Casino, and partner locations in Nevada, including the Marjorie Barrick Museum on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The exhibition opens May 11th, 2016 and will be on view for two years.

sevenmagicmountains.com

  

JÉRÉMY DEMESTER

Posted on 2016-05-02

His practice divides, consciously if not skillfully, into traditional genres such as portraits, interiors and landscapes. Sledsens invites us to consider the thoughts of the people, places and events that populate his vivid scenarios, whether they exist in private or public realms, in personal or shared experiences. His tempting contexts seduce by intertwining multiple narratives in a single work, making the viewing that much more entranced and involved. Sledsens translates his personal subject matter into poetic or romantic images, with an open beginning and ending, meant for interpretation by the spectator. In his work Unexpected Journey one might see a metaphor for the process of painting, measuring the gaps between painting as an individual pursuit and a shared experience, while another viewing conjures an equally dynamic emotion or narrative. All his works hide subtle links to each other, which only amplifies the works’ underlying ambiguous significance while he creates a bigger fictitious world together.

Central to the work is his profound understanding of painterly tradition. His large format canvases exist in a long tradition of painting that reference Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, yet his works are part of a bigger poetic universe that is all his own.

Opposite – Original Zeke, 2015-2016

Exhibition runs through till May 28th, 2016

Galerie Max Hetzler
57, rue du Temple
75004
Paris
France

www.maxhetzler.com

  

ANTONY CAIRNS OSC – OSAKA STATION CITY

Posted on 2016-05-02

Comprising a collection of photographic assemblages printed on computer punch cards, Antony Cairns’ OSC – Osaka Station City features images from his latest series and explores his new experiments with alternative printing methods.

During his recent residency at the Benrido Collotype Atelier in Japan, Cairns visited the large port city of Osaka adding to his documentation of cities at night. Captivated by the maze-like site that his train pulled into, his OSC – Osaka Station City series is a collection of twenty-five photographs captured at the newly renovated station and its surrounding environment.

Continuing his idea of creating artworks using recycled materials from the early digital age, Cairns envisioned a way of producing his new imagery on a larger scale, creating unique photographic montages comprised of either twenty-four or forty-eight tinted punch cards. OSC – Osaka Station City is the first of the artist’s series to present his imagery upon coloured paper, progressing a novel experience of his growing archive.

Exhibition runs through to June 3rd, 2016

Roman Road Project Space
69 Roman Rd
London
E2 0QN

www.romanroad.com