Tobias Rehberger | Sex and Friends

Posted on 24/01/2012 by W&V

The work of Tobias his recent exhibition at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium has now moved on and is on show at the Pilar Corrias Gallery in London. The show carries the title: Sex and Friends

Tobias his conceptual art installation set up at Pilar Corrias Gallery explores again the conflict between functionalism and aesthetics and again questions and plays with the notion of art and its various strategies. The main key element of this specific installation is transformation. This key element is not only linked to the change of the space itself but also to the transformation during a specific time frame and especially the transformation of the viewer, his/her behaviour and thoughts.

The series of sculptures in this installation seem abstract and find their “ghost-image” counterpart in the amorphous shadows they project on the walls. The art works transmit words and patterns onto the surfaces around them. The sculptures and their shadows are dynamic in a reversed way. They encourage the viewer to move and look at them from various perspectives. By doing that they shift and transform themselves. During brief moments of the day the shadows come together and form a “hidden” message. The visual message itself becomes less important as the event is basically already known and announced to the viewer who visits the gallery space, however what is important in this conceptual installation is that the upfront announced “hidden” feature/message does right away influence and transform the viewers behaviour and thoughts.

Sex and Friends is running until February 17, 2012 at Pilar Corrias Gallery, London.
You can read more about Tobias Rehberger and his work in this, this and this article on the Warmenhoven & Venderbos blog.

Photos by: Tobias Rehberger | Pilar Corrias Gallery

Zimoun | Sound Sculptures & Installations

Posted on 13/08/2010 by W&V

Zimoun is a Swiss artist who is residing in Bern. To develop his work he has often collaborated with other artists and experts who work in various other fields like for example architecture, science, research engineering.

The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the artificial and the organic. We find these intriguing sculptures fascinating and very inspiring.

Photos and video by Zimoun | Zimoun website

Naoko Yoshimoto | conceptual clothing sculptures

Posted on 14/06/2010 by W&V

Silent voice | 300×240×45cm | used white clothes

Japanese artist Naoko Yoshimoto began her career studying psychology at the University of Kyoto but moved gradually after it more into art. Her main medium are clothing and textiles. She creates very interesting and strong conceptual sculptures and installations made from garments like for example dresses, tops and trousers.

In the early days as she began collecting these clothes she saw them a bit as symbols of the people living in the places where she met the clothes. She imagined the histories behind them. Touching these used garments, gave her the idea she gained a feeling for the memories of these people and their everyday lives which the garments used to touch, a feeling that could not be communicated by words. But after while this gave her an uneasy feeling as she realized that she could imagine the people and the everyday life of the place she visited, but that she could not directly touch them. There was a feeling of distance and uncertainties. These thoughts had great influence of her current work and made sure she shifted even more towards a conceptual approach in her work.

In some of her current works like for example ” silent voice”, “shadow portrait” or “history behind clothes” she removes the colour of garments by bleaching or uses white coloured garments and compresses and condenses these “white shaded” clothes and transforms them into building blocks for her conceptual sculptures. These works depict conventional as well as more abstract objects and give an interesting social commentary which is created by the medium and its carrier.

White coffin | 205×85×65cm | used white shirts

White coffin detail | 205×85×65cm | used white shirts

Shadow portrait | 40×640×12cm | used white clothes

White coffin | 205×85×65cm | used white shirts

Shadow portrait | 40×640×12cm | used white clothes

White coffin | 150×130×180cm | used white shirts

River of oblivion detail | bleached clothes

River of oblivion | bleached clothes

Photos Naoko Yoshimoto | conceptual clothing sculptures

Willy Verginer | sculptures and vibrant colour blocking

Posted on 09/06/2010 by W&V

Sculptor Willy Verginer was born in 1957 in Bressanone and currently works and lives in Ortisei, Italy. He creates interesting sculptures and installations using the traditional craft of woodcarving. At first glance all the figures seem to reflect everyday life. This idea gets strengthened by the fact that most of them also wear contemporary casual clothing. They also have a link with the archaic and classic Greek sculptures. However, a closer and more focused look at the work shows that it goes beyond just that. The compositions of the installations, the positioning, the inclusion of surreal elements and the use of vibrant colour blocking across three dimensional surfaces which cuts the sculptures into fragments, lifts these works above just pure perceptual and figurative art. These elements and details give the viewer an access into the deeper conceptual layers of the fascinating work produced by Willy Verginer.

Photos: Willy Verginer | sculptures and installations

Christopher Coppers reinterprets (fashion-)magazines

Posted on 28/05/2010 by W&V

Christopher Coppers is a Belgian artist who is based in Brussels. His current work consists, for a large part, of interventions, either with, within or on magazines. Construction and deconstruction are important key elements in his art. He has by now used many different magazines as his medium, for the most fashion related ones. Some examples are: Elle, Vogue, BEople, Playboy,View magazine, Vanity Fair and ID fashion magazine.
He Combines his love for printed matter with an obvious urge for creative distortion or destruction. Christopher extremely careful and diligent revisits these magazines, he dramatically reinterprets the original covers by intricately carving them and so transforming them into sculptures. By doing this he gives them a second purpose, a second life.