Hiroshi Sugimoto | Colors of Shadow

Posted on 28/09/2011 by W&V

Colors of Shadow is the first conceptual photo series which artist Hiroshi Sugimoto photographed in color and it shows his continuous interrogation of photography’s intrinsic nature; of light entering into a darkened or “dimmed chamber”, however, the light source remains out of view. The work is minimalist in nature. The photographic field is emptied of any superfluous detail, allowing stillness for meditation.
Colors of Shadow seems also to mirror the white cube, the gallery space, in its perpetual rhythm to lay bare its white walls to receive the work of art. Here the works reflect its surroundings; the detail is focused on what the viewer’s eye does not generally pay attention to. Brought into focus are the corners of the space, its ceiling and walls with different hues of whites due to the slightest alteration in lighting, and their cast shadows.

Subtle play of light and shadow as well as spatial composition are central in this work by artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. He explains it as following:

”I’ve learned many things from using my hands. While I’m still not sure about the nature of light—whether it’s waves or particles—I’ve learned something about shadows. Trying to devise a way of observing shadows, this project escalated into a major undertaking, requiring an entire hilltop penthouse in a Tokyo apartment. When surfaces receive light, the light effects vary according to the angle of exposure. Selecting three distinct angles—90°, 55°, and 35°—I had the walls surfaced using traditional Japanese shikkui (plaster finishing), which absorbs and reflects light most evenly. In the morning light, the shadows play freely over the surfaces, now appearing, now vanishing. On rainy days, they take on a deeper, more evocative cast. I’ve only just begun my observations, but already I’ve discovered a sublime variety in shadow hues.”

Photos from top to bottom:
Colors of shadow c1020
Colors of shadow c1031
Colors of shadow c1028
Colors of shadow c1023
Colors of shadow c1019

Photos by: Hiroshi Sugimoto | Hiroshi Sugimoto website | source: Marian Goodman Gallery

Felice Varini | Point of view

Posted on 05/05/2011 by W&V

Felice Varini was born in 1952 in Locarno, Switzerland. and currently lives in Paris. He creates fascinating optical art.
His field of action is architectural and urban space and everything that constitutes such spaces. These spaces are and remain the original media for his painting. He works “on site”, each time in a different space and his work develops itself in relation to the spaces he encounters. The paintings are characterized by geometric shapes and by a single vantage point from which the viewer can see the complete painting, while various ‘broken’ fragmented shapes are seen from various other view points.

Felice Varini about his work:

“I generally roam through the space noting its architecture, materials, history and function. From these spatial data and in reference to the last piece I produced, I designate a specific vantage point for viewing from which my intervention takes shape.

The vantage point is carefully chosen: it is generally situated at my eye level and located preferably along an inevitable route, for instance an aperture between one room and another, a landing… I do not, however, make a rule out of this, for all spaces do not systematically possess an evident line. It is often an arbitrary choice. The vantage point will function as a reading point, that is to say, as a potential starting point to approaching painting and space.

The painted form achieves its coherence when the viewer stands at the vantage point.When he* moves out of it, the work meets with space generating infinite vantage points on the form. It is not therefore through this original vantage point that I see the work achieved; it takes place in the set of vantage points the viewer can have on it.

If I establish a particular relation to architectural features that influence the installation shape, my work still preserves its independence whatever architectural spaces I encounter. I start from an actual situation to construct my painting. Reality is never altered, erased or modified, it interests and seduces me in all its complexity. I work “here and now”.”

Photos by: Felice Varini | Video by: Christophe Loizillon | Felice Varini website

On Kawara Reading One Million Years

Posted on 22/03/2010 by W&V

On Kawara, a Japanese conceptual artist living in New York City, made since 1966 a long series of “date paintings” (the Today series), which consist entirely of the date on which the painting was executed in white lettering set against a solid background. Other series of works include the “I Went and I Met” series of postcards sent to his friends detailing aspects of his life. A second series of postcards, I Got Up At, rubber-stamped with the time he got up that morning, and a series of telegrams sent to various people bearing the message “I am still alive”.

In 1971 he started with his work called ‘A Million Years’. This ten volume piece was produced concurrently with a series which would later be seen as his defining work. ‘A Million Years’ was, just as its title states, a series of numbers counting back the last million years from 1969. It was later accompanied by ‘One Million Years (future)’ which counts forwards from 1980. In 1993 Kawara transformed One Million Years (Future) from a written to recorded state. The impetus for this metamorphosis was an exhibition for Dia Center for the Arts that ran from January 1, 1993, to December 31 of the same year. The below video made by New York art tours gives an impression of ‘One Million Years”

The exhibition was comprised of three parts, a selection of one thousand Today paintings, the ten volumes of One Million Years (Past) and the recording of One million Years (Future), in which a male and female voice continuously, year after year, count into the future. A segment of this recording was transformed into a CD. With the exhibition the viewer plays a more passive role, entering into the space where the recording plays continuously, whereas with the CD the amount of time is limited, 74 minutes, and contains a set number of years (1994 AD to 2613 AD), thus transforming the infinite time of the exhibition into the finite time of the CD. With the CD the viewer is able to manipulate the duration and chronology of the CD, thus entering into a far more active relation to the work. You can listen to a part of the work in the below Ubuweb podcast.

Photos: On Kawara | David Zwirner Gallery | Sources: Ubuweb, Wikipedia | Video: New York Art Tours Youtube channel

Conceptual Art and Installations by Michael Johansson

Posted on 12/03/2010 by W&V

In his conceptual installations and sculptures Michael Johansson puts the qualities from daily life objects in opposition to their field of application. By repetition, displacement of scale, and new function, he questions the receivers interpretations of the unique. The objects are frozen in their new shape - while the function is displayed, the functionality is taken away.

Michael Johansson about his work: “I am fascinated by flea markets. Walking around to find doubles of seemingly unique, though often useless, objects I have already purchased at another flea market, is not only an inquisitive activity for me but part of my working process. Despite the fact that I did not have any use for most of these objects in the first place, the unlikeliness of discovering them twice in two different places makes the desire for their possession irresistible. The unique and the unknown origin of the object increases my wish to own its double. The rules compelling me in selecting things at flea markets are also central to my art practice. Engaging directly with these objects, manipulating them, juxtaposing them against each other or representing them in a new context is my method of work. Through out my different explorations of the potentials of my collection of found and acquired things, one has been to free objects from their function. By forcing these objects into contexts in which their functional qualities are put into opposition with their field of application, the objects are stripped of their meaning for existence. In a series of work I have assembled objects connected to a certain place, for example a kitchen or a living room, into a cubic geometrical unit. The collected items, originally gathered from hundreds of different homes, are precisely stacked into the empty spaces of other larger items, a process that repeats itself until all the objects are carefully packed into one single tight sculptural form. This transformation addresses questions about history, life and space. The sculptures hold stories of compressed worlds from a time gone by, and the function has been forced to give in for the notions of color and shape.”

Photos Michael Johansson | Conceptual art and installations

W&V Spring summer 2010 campaign online

Posted on 28/01/2010 by W&V

The Warmenhoven & Venderbos website has been updated with the online spring/summer 2010 campaign which is featuring fragments from the S/S 10 collection.

“Some conceptual keywords and key-phrases for the collection are: Imprints of skin , imprints of garments , imprints of sizes. Distortion of or between translation results in distortion between the layers. Meaning and shape are redefined. Shape follows individual body and mind.”

Find all campaign images here on the W&V website.

WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS | Website: campaign S/S 10

WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS Blog

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Tag Archives: Space

Hiroshi Sugimoto | Colors of Shadow

Felice Varini | Point of view

On Kawara Reading One Million Years

Conceptual Art and Installations by Michael Johansson

W&V Spring summer 2010 campaign online