Category: Art

From photographic narratives to architectural interventions, the German artist pushes boundaries and experiments with alternative techniques across mediums. In her works, photography, sculpture, architecture, and politics achieve surprising cohesion. IGNANT documented the meticulous installation process of ‘In Recent Years’, as Pousttchi walked us through the concept and intriguing message behind it. For her first show at the Berlinische Galerie, Pousttchi has staged an eye-catching photographic intervention that explores the relationship between photography and architecture. Photographic prints on semi-transparent foil, carefully applied to the museum facade, create a net-like pattern that generates an architectural language that blends two different cultural contexts, Asia and Europe. Questioning the idea of a global reality, the installation engages with perceptions of space and time in the digital age and contemplates the complex relationship between history and memory from a transnational perspective.

In Bülow’s works, which include the site-specific ‘Firkanta elastisitet – Skulptur i spenn’, ‘Elastic Bonding’, and ‘Elastic Still Lives’, the human body is choreographed to move slowly, linking to other bodies or to a building’s architecture through meters of lycra. In creating this, Bülow aims to investigate “the most natural border of our bodies: the skin,” she says. “Skin is an interpersonal border, a barrier to the inside. I seek to initiate an ambivalent sense of rigidity and flexibility.” In ‘Firkanta elastisitet – Skulptur i spenn’, the artist covered the two entrances of the exhibition space with lycra, thereby locking the audience inside the venue for the duration of the performance. The material stretches across the space, connecting to the performers as they move through various positions. “The bodies seem locked within their own framework, they are literally fixed to and become one with their squared anchoring,” she says of the work. “Their positions are elastic and the materiality is used as a medium for movement. Yet the movements are so still; it’s best described as an elastic sculpture or a performative still life.”

Some of Gormley’s works were created for the exhibition, others are from the last three decades; but each tests the scale of the Academy’s architecture, giving each room a purpose that envelopes each visitor. Many of Gormley’s works treat the human body as either an object or subject, and contain seawater, sharp edges, and sharp materials like solid steel slabs and spindles. His works include ‘Body and Fruit’ (1991-1993), two hanging peach-like spheres, cast iron molds of the artist curled in a fetal position. ‘Clearing VII’ (2004-2010), is an installation of eight kilometers of coiled metal, weaved together in a tangled spiral that fills an entire room.

‘Matrix III’ (2019) is a suspended intersecting grid weighing six tons, made from reinforced steel mesh. Staring at or through it is intended to distort one’s orientation, asking the viewer to assess their own position in the world—in both a physical and metaphorical sense. Despite the seemingly imposing nature of Gormley’s works, there is a sense of stillness and calm that pervades the exhibition; an open-endedness that changes with each visitor. The Royal Academy of Arts has kindly shared a selection of Gormley’s works with IGNANT, they are pictured below. His solo exhibition is on at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, until December 3, 2019. For more information, click here.

To further confuse the division between real and unreal are the images and videos of the building itself. ‘Maison’ is set amongst a landscape of rolling hills and unkempt fields; its windows reflect the sunrise and sunset, and its walls are settled into a space that once held an old farmhouse. Inside, the spacious three bedroom house is populated by familiar design objects that give the understated interior a sumptuous edge. Look closely, and you will spy Faye Toogood’s ‘Roly Poly Chair’, Soft Baroque’s ‘Lamp/Vase’, the deep black ‘Curial’ chair by Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy, throw rugs by M/M for Byredo, lamps by Max Lamb, paintings by Ned Karlovich, Aesop in the bathroom and flower arrangements by Parisian florists Debeaulieu on the dining table. So where then does digital end and reality begin?

Materially real and unreal, it seems that once again Services Généraux has succeeded in the art of disguise. In the postface of the publication, Dan Thawley notes that the twist of ‘Maison’ lies in its very intangibility as a space. “Peering past the grain of twilight, both still and moving images gently betray the overarching truth of the project’s entirely digital reality”, he writes. It is precisely this unreal nature that allows ‘Maison’ to morph from “dreamlike” into actual dream: An evanescent space, not only for Antoine and Valentin, but for all those who catch a glimpse inside.

“I try to depict the carefree life of living in harmony with nature,” Podgurska explains to IGNANT, “as well as women enjoying the gifts and beauty of the Mediterranean environment”. Having studied drawing, art history, Ancient Greek mythology, and psychology at school, the Odessa-based artist was naturally drawn to portraying elements of the nature of humans. Inspired by the hyper-realistic details of Renaissance art works, “the impressionists motivated me to choose the path of the artist,” she says. At first, the consistent theme of her paintings was seascapes—“in general, water has always fascinated me and I consider it to be my element”. Yet in recent works, Podgurska explores being in the present moment, her characters are women enjoying everyday experiences; like embracing a friend or lover, and feeling connected to their bodies. “I also like experimenting with watercolors. When the water moves the pigment, it decides in which place the colors need to freeze and stop forever. That makes me become just the watcher.”

Erhard’s images are compiled from photographs of constructions and everyday objects that she finds appealing, along with found images predominantly of buildings and designs by famous names including cousins Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. From her collection of images, she uses digital editing to isolate certain elements, layering the new works with other physical materials in a manner similar to collaging. The result is a set of three-dimensional spatial models that are then photographed; which produce a two-dimensional fine art photograph with distorted lines, shapes, and angles.

Rubin applies paint thickly with broad strokes, working with a muted palette that gives more weight to tone than color. The figures in his artworks have been altered in ways that make them appear realistic: people lie in bed, bathe in water, undress, or sit in contemplation; yet notably, none of the figures have faces. The ghost-like nature of these paintings complements other works including empty rowboats and landscapes, presenting the audience with a situation of total anonymity. This elicits a yearning to understand—who are these people? What have they been through, and how do they feel? Lacking identity and personality means Rubin’s figures have secrets, a factor he is intrigued by. “I loved the anonymity of the subjects,” he says of the photographs he has painted from. “On the one hand, these people had nothing to do with me—unlike my earlier paintings, which were of myself, my family, and my friends; on the other hand, it was as if each of these people were holding a key to a story, a history that I was trying to tap into.”

While such calmness will remain crucial to his visual style, Alexis also recognizes 3D design as a space of constant evolution that asks its followers to keep pace. “I think that my work has reached a point where it’s going to have to change,” he tells us. “The fantastical architecture style is being redone quite heavily on Instagram—too heavily for my liking, so I feel like I need to move onto the next thing. It won’t mean leaving architecture behind; more, visualizing it in a new way.” Creative copycats are nowhere more prevalent than on platforms like Instagram, where images are commonly pinboarded, and sadly, stolen. Image rights are incredibly difficult to protect, and harder still to pursue online or across continents.

For this reason, Alexis describes Instagram as a “huge double-edged sword”; the platform has enabled him to carve out a successful career in the arts, but it has also facilitated rampant plagiarism of his work. “I wake up in the morning, and if I turn Instagram on, the first thing I see is a render, and it’s often something that looks similar to work that I’ve done”, he tells us. “And it’s just Instagram’s algorithm going, like: “Hey! You like this!”, when actually, no, maybe I don’t. The algorithm doesn’t understand what inspires you.”

Alexis is pragmatic about Instagram and understands the implications of a career built on such an unpredictable platform. “You have to take being popular on Instagram with a pinch of salt, because tomorrow things could completely change,” he tells us. “So I am—apart from being terrified—I’m super realistic about the state of the world, and how Instagram works, and I don’t trust it for one second.” He’s also modest about his work, and maintains that despite not wanting to return to copywriting, that he is a far more capable writer than he is as a visual designer. “I still have to close my eyes and post images sometimes, because I’m not 100% sure of what’s coming out—which is a good way to stay humble. Just never be sure of yourself [laughs]. Yes, stay terrified at all times! That’s pretty much my recipe.”