Fiona Rae courtesy: Leeds Art Gallery

There is a tension between the physical and the virtual with regards to the visual arts; so much of the art that we see is on a monitor via websites such as this, as well as endless blogs and social networking sites. The online artspace is huge, and the use of computer technology allows for even more artistic possibilities to be realised. I had only ever seen the work of Fiona Rae on a computer screen, and whilst her huge paintings are much better appreciated in the gallery space, her (later) work incorporates an important digital aspect which illustrates such possibilities.

‘Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century’, curated by Sarah Brown, is an exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery of 17 paintings by Rae from the last decade of her career. Two rectangular, tall white rooms provide an appropriate space for her work, in that her large canvases are neither diminished nor amplified. Instead, in a chronological order, the paintings are left in conversation with one another, and the development of her work is thus evident. Rae graduated from Goldsmithsin 1987, and for many people at that time, painting was over and done with. Paint as a medium  plays a large part in the subject of Rae’s work; throughout, she seems to deal with as much of the history of painting as possible, experimenting with many different combinations and in doing so, breaking and challenging set traditional rules. Black is consistently used throughout her work amongst a huge variety of vibrant colours, and there are countless mark-making methods in each individual canvas: this is exciting, rebellious painting which makes for a fantastic show.

Fiona Rae courtesy: Leeds Art Gallery

There is an energy about this exhibition that reminds me of a child creating a scrapbook, and indeed, Rae indulges in as many different kinds of visual and textures as she likes. Rainbows, typography, drips, sprays, fairies, outlines, pandas, glitter, nebulas and words all come together to create a very rich image, yet there is no hierarchy in her work. The disruption of space within the canvas is highlighted by Rae’s extensive use of layering, however, this layering is not obvious. What appears to be at the back of the painting can act as the protagonist; there is movement in her work and it is really good fun to look at. Rae likes things that aren’t quite what they initially seem, and that we might see something different to the next person in her paintings is also an evident ambition.  Balance is therefore vital in her work – particularly with regards to her wonderful use of colour: mint, bright lavender, bubble-gum pink, magenta, mustard yellow and sky blue all come together, with neither engulfing the canvas. On top of this, Rae’s final brushstroke is the title of each painting. Whilst a lot her early work takes the cool and ironic stance of remaining untitled, the development of her work allowed for the naming of her canvases with fitting, found sentences, which get attached to the painting towards the end of its completion. The sentences often feel quite awkward or ambiguous; they are strange in that many are translations from Eastern to Western language, which could refer back to her childhood of living in Hong Kong and Indonesia. This strange use of language reflects her own strange way of painting, but either way, the signs and language in her work also retain the necessary balance that I believe makes her paintings such a joy to see.

Fiona Rae courtesy: Leeds Art Gallery

Looking around this exhibition, I couldn’t help but consider the process, and it was fascinating to hear Rae explain her practice. Whilst all of her paintings have a spontaneous kind of energy to them, there is also the consideration of her work being somewhat calculated. Indeed, her later works in particular are thoroughly planned in photoshop, as a ‘fantastically useful’ palette in which to try out colour schemes and feed in digital images into the paintings. This kind of layering is not evident in her paintings – there is no collage on her canvases; everything is masked out and stencilled into place. The way that Rae brings this use of computer technology into painting makes for an impressive result, however, the difference between her earlier works (which didn’t rely on a software program for their appearance) and her later creations is interesting. There is so much more space in the first canvases in the exhibition; much more space to imagine and drift around in. Her later works are beautifully impressive, however, there is a strong sense of anxiety in the thoroughly built-up, almost claustrophobic images. A strong subject of her work is an investigation into the mapping of the modern mind – how the brain processes information overloads that we experience as a result of an abundance of communication. This show is named after one piece made in 2009 and this body of work is taken from the 20th and 21st century. The possibilities of the future seem to play on Rae’s mind, and indeed, technology has enabled a development of her own work. However, ‘Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century’ has a threatening undertone to it as a sentence and as a painting. The kind of anxiety/pleasure tension in her work is culturally relevant, and I think this show is appropriate to the interesting relationship between the physical and the virtual that many people are beginning to challenge in their art and even in their everyday experience of it.

Leeds Art Gallery
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA

Tel: 0113 247 8256

Richard Rigg 54.969211, -1.598278 Courtesy of Workplace Gallery and the artist

Nominated for the prestigious Northern Art Prize in 2011, Richard Rigg is one of the most exciting artists based in the North East. Playful and often humorous, his works reproduce and manipulate everyday objects, asking us to view their physicality and function in a new light.

For his exhibition Lacuna at BALTIC, Rigg has produced his most ambitious work to date – the major new commission A Clearing. The ambiguous title of the work could refer to that moment where you finally find yourself out of the trees in an open space of a forest, an instance of apparent clarity or, conversely, it could signify something being erased. In the exhibition space visitors will find a mountain cabin. Invited inside, they will discover its interior to be a mountain landscape alive with plants. The project began with Rigg’s observation of fog over a mountain and his meditation on how the mountain could at once be both absent and present. A Clearing also uncovers our complex potential connections and disconnections with landscape.

Un-tethered from time and place, the cabin is a design hybrid taken from many sources from various periods. The landscape found within it is unremarkable and has no discerning features. Its rocks and stones are mainly taken from Torridon, a series of mountains in the Scottish Highlands, and are largely from the little-known Precambian period that predates human life. Repositioned within the manmade structure of the hut, these natural objects reflect how our understanding of the past is framed and constructed. The contained mountain also provokes our capacity to imagine a space beyond our known landscape.

Richard Rigg was born in Cumbria in 1980. He holds a BA in Fine Art from Newcastle University and was nominated for the Northern Art Prize in 2011. Rigg has appeared in many group exhibitions including Cage Mix: Sculpture & Sound at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (2010) and Broken Fall (organic) at Galleria Enrico Astuni, Bologna, Italy (2011). He lives and works in Newcastle.

Baltic
Gateshead Quays
South Shore Road
Gateshead
NE8 3BA

Tel: 0191 478 1810

Hysterical Minds - Feel

The fourth edition of the Parallax international contemporary art fair in London will showcase over 200 emerging and established artists from over thirty countries.

Featuring over 2000 works, Parallax Art Fair is the largest “curated” international artist art fair in Europe. The exhibitors are mainly unrepresented artists from all over the world, many of whom have strong following in their own countries but have yet to be discovered internationally. They will be exhibiting diverse works of art ranging from surrealist-like paintings and sculpture to quirky pieces of fish and even blades of grass.

The artists hail from all corners of the world from India to Tunisia and Morocco to Costa Rica. Highlights include a 10ft-high anti-war memorial with sculpted bronze dogs and skulls; reliefs made from computer components, and a video work about child brides by the young British Asian artist, Shammi Begum. Ceramics encased in bubble wrap by Catriona Robertson reflect the health and safety issues of exhibiting works of art, cleverly referencing the artist’s experience at earlier art fairs when her ceramics were precariously displayed, meaning breakages were unavoidable.

Parallax Art Fair
Chelsea Old Town Hall
King’s Road
Kensington and Chelse
a
London SW3 5EE

Times: 11am – 5pm

Ragamala deck courtesy Dulwich Picture Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery presents ‘Ragamala Remixed’ an exciting late night opening with a difference. The evening will feature a project in collaboration with sound artist and ‘Vocal Sculptor’, Jason Singh as part of the Gallery’s successful Urban Youth programme. Jason Singh has been working with a group of young people from charity Fairbridge, introducing them to the musical ‘ragas’ that accompany the Indian miniature paintings in the exhibition Ragamala Paintings from India: Poetry, Passion, Song.

In a series of workshops led by Jason Singh and celebrated singer Ranjana Ghatak, the young people have developed their understanding of traditional Indian music, incorporating modern methods to create ‘remixed’ responses.  The result ‘Ragamala Remixed’ combines the contemporary music techniques of beat-boxing and experimental sound design, with Indian classical vocals.

On Thursday 24 May 2012 ‘Ragamala Remixed’ will be showcased at the late night opening of the current temporary exhibitions: Ragamala: Paintings from India and Van Dyck in Sicily. The evening will include: Gallery tours, special guest ‘Kathak’ Dance performances and a ‘live’ ‘Re-mixed-media’ artwork inspired by ragamala painting from visual artist, Eimear Kavanagh. The winners of the Gallery’s Ragamala art competition: My Family in Miniature will be on display as chosen by the Gallery’s Director and the public via the Gallery’s Facebook page.

Wine and refreshments will be available at a pay bar during the evening.

Ragamala Paintings from India: Poetry, Passion, Song opened in January and it has been a great source of inspiration for Educational programmes at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Urban Youth Programmes consistently involve young people through workshops relevant to their lifestyle that help them develop their talents, artistically and socially.

Urban Youth:
12 years ago, in response to the lack of access to culture for young people in the inner city, Dulwich Picture Gallery began an Urban Youth Arts programme of external creative workshops in partnership with community centres and youth groups. Today, the Gallery offers innovative, alternative outlets for young people at risk of becoming involved in crime, violence and drug abuse, and engages participants all year round at the Gallery and at various youth centres across South London.

For more information on Urban Youth at Dulwich Picture Gallery, please contact Jessie Prior, j.prior@dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk / 0208 299 8753

Fairbridge centres are based in 15 of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK to help young people classed as having ‘multiple needs’, such as homelessness, substance misuse or a history of offending, take their first step back into education, training or work. The Urban Youth programme at Dulwich Picture Gallery and Fairbridge share the same vision to give young people the motivation, self-confidence and skills they need to change their lives.

Event times: Thursday 24 May 2012, 5 – 9pm

Tickets: £10
Ticket includes both temporary exhibitions: Ragamala Paintings from India: Poetry, Passion, Song and Van Dyck in Sicily: Painting and the Plague, 1624 – 25

Dulwich Picture Gallery
Gallery Road
Dulwich
Greater London
SE21 7AD

Tel: 020 8693 5254

Studies of the foetus in the womb, c.1510-13 Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy The Royal Collection (c) 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

One of the most important collections of anatomical art has been sitting in the hands of private buyers for the last few centuries. Only in the 1900s, when it was passed to the Royal Family in Britain, was the true significance of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks really discovered. This exhibition brings them to life from within the dusty brown leather journal that encased them for so long. So was it worth the wait? Da Vinci’s amazing scientific brain has been laid bare, and the results are remarkable. Beg, steal or borrow a ticket to Anatomist and be prepared not to look at your own form in the same way again. From the stark beauty of ‘The skull sectioned’ (1489) to the seemingly botanical shapes of ‘The vessels of the pelvic region’ (c.1508), the exhibition is full of revealing musings on our shared anatomy.

At the time he was working, da Vinci was faced with a lot of opposition when it came to medical advances. Little was known about medicine in the 1400s and, as the opening images from the exhibition tell us, it was widely believed that the arteries had a ‘vital spirit’ and the liver had a ‘natural spirit’, both being driving forces in the everyday running of the body. It was frowned upon to investigate science too much, as the Church was all powerful and projected the idea of the body being sacred – certainly not a thing to be tampered with, regardless of the potential scientific progress.

The muscles of the shoulder and arm, and the bones of the foot,c.1510 Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist Credit line: The Royal Collection (c) 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Because of this, the majority of the drawings here are taken from the skeleton and not the organs, as it was much easier to obtain bones than a fresh corpse. Many of the detailed studies of these organs are based on animals such as bears, horses or cows, which didn’t compromise the devout beliefs of society and were readily available to go under da Vinci’s knife. He, like his peers, believed that all mammals had the same bodily make-up underneath, which presumably lead to some confusion and revelation when he was finally able to get his hands on a human. All of the drawings are accompanied by intensely cramped mirror writing, a style that he developed himself for unknown reasons, but which undoubtedly also hindered the spread of his ideas.

There was a frenzy of excitement, but also lots to be learned, when da Vinci experimented with the heart of an ox and hot wax in order to discover the precise workings of its valves, leading to some intriguing sketches. These images still hold significant value to today’s heart specialists and were unbelievably advanced for the time and for their level of accuracy. Astonishment is also felt when looking at ‘The layers of the scalp and the cerebral ventricles’ (c.1490-92) which, though by no means a perfect rendering, ‘its resemblance to a modern MRI scan is remarkable’, says Windsor Castle’s Senior Curator of Paintings and Drawings, Martin Clayton.

A nude man from behind,c.1504-6 Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist The Royal Collection (c) 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The exhibition organisers have certainly devoted a large part of the experience to comparing da Vinci’s sketches with accurate modern models of the body, which are unnervingly similar. Although there are naturally some errors, with the bottom ribs being drawn a little too pronounced, or the inner workings of the brain not properly realised, this is a frighteningly accomplished portfolio for a man of the 15th Century. It also adds substance and depth to his drawings as an artist, with the sketch of ‘A male nude from behind’ (c.1504-6) detailing the muscle groups underneath his skin. Considering the beautification of people in painting during this era, it’s fascinating to see that he strove for accuracy over idealism. Da Vinci’s findings informed his art and they also proved how forward-thinking he was, with a thirst for knowledge and logic that a God-fearing society just couldn’t recognise as being significant.

Da Vinci was said to have dissected ‘more than thirty bodies, both male and female of all ages’, but it’s frustrating to think what he could have learned with just 30 more. The things he did find out were carefully replicated as he pin-pricked original drawings at crucial points to then make copies which could be embellished and would allow him to run with his theories. Visitors to Anatomist can also enjoy his tantalising list of ‘Notes on topics to be investigated’, dated 1489, including ‘epilepsy’, ‘on laughing’ and ‘lust’.

It’s interesting that the exhibition ends with a glimpse of the man inspired by da Vinci, the great Andreas Vesalius, who produced a magnificent work called De Humani Corporis Fabricathat staged the anatomised body in life-like positions.

The cardiovascular system and principal organs of a woman, c.1509-10 Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist The Royal Collection (c) 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Vesalius is considered by many, including the exhibition guidebook authors, to have given science what da Vinci should have provided – an informed and detailed treatise on every inch of being human. Frustratingly during my visit, fellow ticketholders assumed that the Vesalius piece was merely a modern day illustration of a skeleton, which left them grumbling about the ‘unrealistic background’ and ‘not very tasteful presentation’. Perhaps a little more information about da Vinci’s natural successor in anatomical studies would have helped to contextualise this further, and avoided any more awkward misidentifications. If anything, you should leave this exhibition much more informed rather than confused.

There is so much to be taken from Anatomist; it’s not often that I immediately feel the need to return for a second look, but I’m confident that many of the ticketholders will be coming back for more and will have their curiosity sparked by this show. Don’t let these drawings go to waste again – go and see them, and gladly accept that a 15th Century man knows more about your own body than you do.

The Queens Gallery
Buckingham Palace
SW1A 1AA

Tel:020 7766 7301

Katy Grannan Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 11 2009/ printed 2011 Archival pigment print on cotton rag paper, mounted on Plexiglas 139.7 x 104.1 cm Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London ©Katy Grannan, 2009

With 38 artists crammed into just over a dozen rooms, Saatchi Gallery’s current exhibition, Out of Focus, lives up to its name. The show can boast a selection of contemporary photographers from the US, UK, Switzerland, France, South Africa, Finland, Turkey, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and Benin, and its diversity is reflected in the wide range of styles and concerns present, demanding that the spectator switch between disparate theoretical concepts with little to no mental breathing room.

At times, Out of Focus feels a bit like watching a new generation of artists exploring the innovations of their forebears. The exhibition opens with Katy Grannan’s crisp man-on-the-street portraits of nameless denizens of Los Angeles and San Francisco which owe a great debt to the work of Diane Arbus. While striking in their own right, it does feel a bit like rediscovering the wheel. Likewise, Mariah Robertson’s abstract, kaleidoscopic photo prints cut a beautiful figure across the gallery floor, but one can’t help but feel that they’ve seen this all before. Harkening to an earlier generation is not inherently a negative thing so long as it’s well executed, but works like Anders Clausen’ Photoshop-esque montage of Apple desktop screenshots is less than compelling for anyone who owns a Mac.

John Stezaker, whose black and white photographic collages of celebrities offer some of the most arresting moments of Out of Focus, seems to speak for several of the show’s artists when he responds to the question of why he doesn’t call his work appropriation. “I far prefer theft,” Stezaker quipped. Placing Stezaker’s work early in the show was a well-calculated gesture as his words echo in the viewer’s mind as references to art and artists of yesteryear pepper the show.

A common thread that runs throughout the show is the notion of blurring the line between amateur and professional. It’s an interesting concept though there is something to be said about professionalism if not polish. The photographs of Laurel Nakadate and Ryan McGinley are clearly products of the Instagram generation, referencing the sort of self-indulgent Facebook school of photography that populates social media today. While they might be worthy of consideration on their own, placing them next to more sophisticated projects, like JH Engström’s dreamlike nudes or David Benjamin Sherry’s large-scale vibrant landscapes does them a disservice.

The true highlights of the show suffer from a bad case of overcrowding and curious curatorial choices. Elina Brotherus’ striking Femme à sa toilette is almost lost among all that visual noise, just as Mohau Modisakeng’s photographic explorations of race, masculinity, and industrial labour are given little room to breathe.  Despite the pictorial congestion, several works manage to rise above the milieu, like Andreas Gefeller’s faux-satellite photographs of empty art studios and Matt Collishaw’s grand mosaics that efface the boundary between the cruel and the beautiful. Nicole Wermer’s Buhuu Suite provides a breath of fresh air with an innovative manipulation of three-dimensional space on two-dimensional planes. Noémi Goudal’s Les Amants (Cascade) also plays with space by juxtaposing the natural and the manmade. Both artists create a confusion of place and meaning in their images, inviting the viewer to get lost in them.

It can be argued that Saatchi’s assault of images and ideas reflects our current Internet culture of information overload. The web has made it incredibly easy to distribute and access virtually any type of image through a simple Google search, and Out of Focus echoes that wild pictorial menagerie with varying success. But as anyone who has trawled through a Google search looking for a specific image in an avalanche of images, a bit of a focus never hurt (anything but the show’s clever title, perhaps). Though Out of Focus aims for the moon and, generally speaking, misses, it still manages to land amongst the stars, as the truly remarkable work still shines bright when given the opportunity.

Saatchi Gallery
Duke Of York’s HQ,
King’s Road,
London,
SW3 4RY

Opening hours:
10am-6pm, 7 days a week, last entry 5:30pm

Installation image, Karla Black at GoMA part of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012 Courtesy of the artist Photo credit: Ruth Clark All works courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.

The first thing I thought walking into the show was ‘Wow!’ Karla Black is known for big scale works yet this one takes up the whole Grand Ground floor exhibition space which is around the size of a regular gym. The installation is site specific and was made by last year’s Turner Prize nominee for the Glasgow International Festival, however, luckily for the city the work of one of its talented residents will be on display until the 24 of June.

Even before you walk in to the gallery it is easy to guess who is the artist on display at Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). The cloud-like cellophane formations are well seen through the windows from outside. Bellow these formations, is what looks like a gigantic layered cake made out of different types of saw dust.

The work presented is Karla Black at her best: it is monumental yet fragile; during my visit an old gentleman destroyed one corner just by brushing against it. It combines natural material (sawdust) and everyday toiletries such as eye shadows, bronzer, cream and many more. And not only is its meaning a mystery but so is its execution. For me it will always be a wonder how she managed to shape sawdust in to a perfect rectangle.

Installation image, Karla Black at GoMA part of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012 Courtesy of the artist Photo credit: Ruth Clark All works courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.

The work is not only imaginative in its self but is open to viewer’s interpretation. It allows us to ‘fill in the gaps’. My own mind wandered from layered cakes of all kind to seeing the sawdust as a sandy beach and the cellophane as gentle cloud formations.  Then after encountering intentional holes at the sides of the work with various objects scattered on the floor next to them the work turned in to a Trojan horse with little pigmy-like creatures hiding inside, ready to burst out and invade.  I have to admit that the idea of ‘bursting out and invading’ gave the work an Alien turn for me.

The imagination, the humor, the tension of magnitude and fragility make it in my view one of the best Karla Black pieces and certainly one of the most memorable I have seen in Glasgow.

Gallery Of Modern Art
Royal Exchange Square
Glasgow
G1 3AH

Tel: 0141 287 3050

Admission: Free

Colonel Soleil's Boys, 2010 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Liverpool’s Open Eye gallery sees the UK premier of Richard Mosse’s photographic exhibition Infra. Mosse shines a pink spotlight on the on-going conflict in the Republic Congo in his series of large-scale photographs. Using discontinued infrared film, Mosse challenges the viewer to experience the way in which the conflict is represented, transforming the landscape and people of Congo into hues of pinks and purples.

In contrast to the accustomed journalistic photos of war torn Congo, Mosse uses a process developed by the US military to detect camouflage and reveal part of the spectrum of light undetectable by the human eye. The irony of using an enemy detection process to renew attention on the forgotten conflict is none more so evident than in Vintage Violence, 2011. An armed Congolese solider lurking in the underbrush dominates the gallery space, with his khaki camouflage accessories transformed into gaudy pink adornments. Prepensely positioned, the young rebel is uneasily neighbouring the smaller-scale photographs of afflicted communities, intensifying volatile relationships.

Men of Good Fortune (Infra series), 2011 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Inspired by the work and technique of German artist Florian Maier-Aichen, Mosse’s images are understated in their composition, essentially hinting at the decade-long civil war. The viewer is removed from any graphic, shock factor images, that would able them to realise the actualities of the physical, sexual violence, death and destruction of the conflict.

The hot pink and crimson hills of the landscape appear other worldly and artificial. The contaminated atmosphere of the landscape allows the viewer to question the conception of war in works such as Men of Good Fortune, 2011.

Lava Floe, 2010, is an aerial view of the fabricated suburbs of Goma. Since the devastating volcanic eruption in 2002 the photo emphasises on the vulnerability of the inhabitants. Eclipsed by the menacing mountain the homes appear insignificant, an analogy for the two contrasting devastations of man and nature. Juxtaposed with Come Out (1996) II, 2011, of a primitive hut near Bushani, the two photographs outline the two victims faces of the war.

The photographer and filmmakers series of photographs accompanies three of his war-themed short films: Gaza Pastoral; Theatre of War and Untitled.

Stalemate, 2011 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Gaza Pastoral maintains the theme of war, concentrating on the passage and after-effects of war in Iraq. The camera pans across buildings reduced to rubble, scanning and documenting the destruction before cutting to civilians evading a gas attack. This disorientating film footage resembles what is widely publicised on news channels depicting war. More powerful in their presence are the assuming herd of secluded goats who reoccur throughout film, portraying a compelling message of the embodiment of innocence. Distressed and isolated they are very moving to watch, almost expectant on an onslaught, you can’t help but compare them to the victims of war. A message that is affecting and universal, displaying the power of Mosse’s work.

Mosse is triumphant in portraying war in a different light allowing the viewer to reconnect with the atrocities of war.

Open Eye Gallery
19 Mann Island
Liverpool Waterfront
Liverpool, L3 1BP

Tel: 0151 236 6768

Work by Nicol Vizioli © Nicol Vizioli

Beguiling, unsettling and evocative, Shadows on Parade reveals new photographic works by Nicol Vizioli. Opening on 17 May at the Arts Gallery, Holborn. Shadows on Parade unveils for the first time Vizioli’s complete series of works probing mythology and dream sequences, including new works specially created for the exhibition.

Arts Gallery
University of the Arts London
272 High Holborn
WC1V 7EY
Tel:0207 514 6216

Opening times:
Monday – Friday 11am – 6pm

Hans-Peter Feldmann Installation view, Hans-Peter Feldmann Serpentine Gallery, London (11 April - 5 June 2012) © 2012 Jerry Hardman-Jones

Among the selected works are a series of booklets comprised of photographs documenting a variety of mundane subject matter. Feldmann’s fascination with collection and archives is apparent in nearly every work, from a compilation of photographs of women’s knees to an assortment of children’s toys, too meticulously arranged to have been carelessly abandoned by a child.  The archive, traditionally a source of authenticity and hegemony, is invaded by Feldmann’s irreverent humor as it is continuously tested by an artist at play.

In a somewhat self-reflexive gesture, a single letter size piece of paper is hung on the dividing wall between two rooms that reads, “Art must have the right to risk being bad.” Serpentine’s show feels more like a presentation of an artist’s explorations and experiments than a retrospective highlighting the most successful moments of an oeuvre. Works like a pair of sky-high gold heels, with thumbtacks glued along the insole, or an array of mediocre seascape paintings lack the wit and insight of Feldmann’s more interesting pieces that test the boundaries between what is and is not acceptable in the gallery space.

A series of photographs of car radios is at first glance unremarkable until one reads the caption: “Car radios while good music is playing.” Reflexively, one pauses for a split second as though expecting to hear music floating from the photographs and their silence is even louder for its absence. A giggle erupts, unbidden, at both the cleverness of the combination of evocative words and still images and at oneself for responding exactly as the artist wanted. Feldmann’s ability to imbue everyday objects with unseen qualities continues to work its magic with an orderly array of photos, each of a single strawberry from a one-pound package. Each fruit, documented with meticulous affection, takes on a personality of its own as they become individuals in their own right, every bump and speckle unique.

Hans-Peter Feldmann Installation view, Hans-Peter Feldmann Serpentine Gallery, London (11 April - 5 June 2012) © 2012 Jerry Hardman-Jones

The theme of animating inanimate objects is strongest in the two new works Feldmann has created for Serpentine’s exhibition. In Shadow Play, a seemingly random arrangement of old trinkets and toys, discolored and worn with use, rotate on a row of neatly aligned platforms, illuminated by homemade stage lights (light bulbs in tin cans). The shadows cast by the figures dance along the gallery’s white wall, creating a whimsical tableau of artificial life.

Feldmann’s exploration of the lives of objects expands beyond photography to include the traces of life people have left behind on the things they use. The artist takes the idea of investigating the most absolutely ordinary paraphernalia of everyday life with the intensity of curatorial curiosity to new heights with his museological displays of women’s handbags. The six curio cases, marked with only the first names, ages, and cities of the women to whom their contents once belonged, easily drew the largest crowd. There is something undeniably fascinating and intimate about the painstakingly methodical display of tobacco filters, pill bottles, half-finished cosmetics, and crumpled receipts. One can’t help but feel that they’ve come to know something about these women, whose daily lives have been exposed for our viewing pleasure.

Hans-Peter Feldmann Installation view, Hans-Peter Feldmann Serpentine Gallery, London (11 April - 5 June 2012) © 2012 Jerry Hardman-Jones

While humor and the mundane are certainly significant aspects of Feldmann’s work, what is most remarkable about Serpentine’s exhibition is how that which is unseen and unheard invades the spectator’s experience. Revealing the secret lives of things is the vitalizing force behind the artist’s work and, according to Feldmann, every object has a story to tell, if one only stops to listen.

Exhibition ends: 5 June 2012

Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
Tel: 020 7402 6075