Apparatus 22 -The Twists and Turns of the speculative still life: What would Charles Sterling say? solo show Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

 

Dear Shaded Viewers,

A body of work that focuses on the inter-dimensional qualities of still life painting by manipulating and freeing the very aspects it holds to be true through experimentation of materials and visual as well as written language.

Figure I.Twenty-Four Hours

 

High above London we looked, knowing we couldn’t for very long. In quiet, in intervals, we watched the city move like anxious fingers tapping on a knee. For a moment, a barrier to entry had been broken.Years later, we tried to remember that day. Fragmented images – a splash from a truck tire onto a shoe, office-building lights flickering on at 4am, a well-groomed and empty park accessible to none. Recalling images half-fictitiously, half-uncovered. The door then closed on us and we saw everything at street-level once again.

 

Figure II.Seven Roses Slightly Withered

 

In a dimly lit room, the human imaginationreaches further than what reality presents. What one sees, and how one artificially fillsin the unknown spaces can spontaneously merge. Shadows, two green blinking eyes. The background becomes a pattern – floral. The information is there, but the mind wanders further. For each who enter, the scene shifts and molds itself accordingly through time, space, individual memories.

 

Figure III. All-You-Can-Eat

 

The most common still life scenes focus on edibles – freshly picked, baked, stacked high on silver trays. Far from theatrical story-telling or informative portrayals of history, still lifes often present objects of the every day, or what Charles Sterling referred to as rhopography. In the context of Suprainfinit’s temporary space, the long history of the building is illuminated through the still life, highlighting the main reason for visiting patrons over the years ­– food. The works function also as a critique on abundance and gluttony;poking and prodding at the very references they pay homage to.

 

Figure IV. This Isn’t a Bird

 

How does one unfreeze a landscape? Eschewing time and event with certainty, the natural world confirms its presence. Archival images stand stagnant. Triggered through language, the images transform, resisting categorization.

 

This isn’t a bird, this isn’t a stone, this isn’t a mountain.

 

Figure V. Taped and Boarded-up, a Bit Moldy

 

Lights off in the backroom of a storage space. A documentation of a documentation becomes a simulation. Re-created with overlapping qualities, but not quite perfect – it can never be the same twice. The archive sits in infinite space, invisibly everywhere.

 

Text by Christina Gigliotti

Suprainfinit Gallery

November 16 – December 20, 2017

nomadic location #3:  Piata Amzei no. 1, Bucharest, Romania

Curator: Christina Gigliotti

mm
Diane Pernet

A LEGENDARY FIGURE IN FASHION and a pioneer of blogging, Diane is a respected journalist, critic, curator and talent-hunter based in Paris. During her prolific career, she designed her own successful brand in New York, costume designer, photographer, and filmmaker.

SHARE