Accustomed to moving from white cube galleries to industrial locations with super-wow setups, the Sides Of A Coin exhibition currently running at London’s Split Gallery struck us as devising a hybrid version of these two completely opposite modes. While art-world purists do not conceive of setups other than clean ones with white walls and well-placed lights, the counter-trend of exhibitions in disused spaces is increasingly catching on. Split Gallery with a bipersonal exhibition by German artists Miriam Beichert and Camille Theodet manages to wink at both. A white cube but with walls daubed with a spray can and ventilation pipes prominently displayed on the ceiling. All the work of the two very young artists who reflect on our age, the post-digital age, and its strong ambiguous component. In particular, it is Beichert’s works that make us think about the concept of the obsolete, which, while they look at the ever-changing objects of our everyday life, also make us wonder when we too will be obsolete?

Faded objects like our memories

In the works of Miriam Beichert (Stuttgart, 1999) the familiar meets the nostalgic. All seen through the lens of consumerism, to which we are blatantly enslaved. Nokia cell phones, BIC lighters, CASIO watches, Adidas sweatshirts. The subjects of Miriam’s canvas works belong to our past, although some are back in a big way like the acetate suit. Beyond this detail, the artist’s intention is to focus mainly on technology and our digital culture, investigating the transformations it is bringing to human connections.

Take for example the iconic Nokia 3310, which went from an object of desire to trash in a very few years. The technique with which Miriam Beichert creates it looks like that of a street artist on a street wall, but it is actually acrylic on canvas, reinforcing even more the ambiguity of the exposure. Moreover, the blurred effect is meant to emphasize a feeling of faded memories that increasingly belong to us. Just as the objects of our present, which we quickly forget, so we do with the moments of our lives, faded and bland because they are not fully experienced, with eyes, brain and heart divided between a screen and the reality around us. Are we, therefore, also obsolete – human beings – for the world that was originally created? Do we need an upgrade? If everything is transient, if everything can be forgotten, can we be too? These are the questions that Miriam’s works raise, inviting us to reflect on our own relationship with the modern world.

Courtesy Split Gallery and the artists

When young illustrator Thomas Taylor designed the cover for J.K. Rowling‘s new book, it was 1997 and the name Harry Potter was completely unknown. No one could have imagined a success of this caliber, least of all the author, who at the time was just starting out, as was Thomas Taylor, one of many budding artists. In short, this is the story that all up-and-coming artists would like, to find themselves in the right place and at the right time and make history. Twenty-seven years later, with a long and sensational career behind him — no doubt thanks to the success of the saga — Taylor is attending the auction of his original drawing of the first cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It is Sotheby’s that is organizing the sale to be held on June 26 in New York and, to put it bluntly, the estimate is between $400 and $600,000.

The uniqueness of this watercolor drawing surely lies in its history, which is random, unknowing, and therefore authentic. At the time Thomas Taylor was only 23 years old and working in a Cambridge bookstore, it was Barry Cunningham of Bloomsbury who entrusted him with this assignment, which at the time seemed like no big deal. An assignment like any other. Today, it is amazing to think that this young illustrator gave the first visual representation of the Harry Potter character, which would later serve as a model for all the declinations to follow, including the cinematic one we all know so well. Thus, Thomas Taylor can consider himself the father of this so incredibly universal image, obviously outlined verbatim by Rowling. At this point we just have to wait for the auction and see how much the lot will actually be sold for and by whom.

We had already talked about the Monobloc chair in the past through the works of the designer Pierre Castignola, who reasoned about the wide diffusion of this object, starting from the fact that the original design was never patented and that is why it was then reproposed by so many different manufacturers. All this allowed the Monobloc to spread globally and enter homes, bars, and restaurants around the world, becoming a universal symbol as well as a carrier of a feeling of comfort but also of nostalgia. If Castignola revisits it by deconstructing and reassembling it, artist Kuril Chto proposes it instead in Yves Klein’s blue first on canvas then in a giant version, but also in miniature and as a necklace. Let’s find out more about this artist and his current exhibition in Venice at Kunst Depot space ‘Parrucche ai Biri’ in the Cannaregio district, in conjunction with the 60th Art Biennale.

Monobloc is foreign everywhere, like us

«The artist is fascinated by the ubiquity of the chair, its omnipresence on the surface of the planet, and the implications of hospitality that this simple piece of furniture offers. As media scholar and pop-up ad inventor Ethan Zuckerman points out in his blog, “The Monobloc offers no linguistic clues, no obvious sign that it has been located. Wherever you are, it’s at home,‘»explains exhibition curator Valentin Diaconov, who offers the viewer the simple key to interpreting Kuril Chto’s entire exhibition. In other words, and wanting to connect us to the theme proposed by this year’s Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere -, the artist erects the Monobloc chair as a symbol of always being at home, as an object widespread both in the present and in the past, inevitably bringing us back to childhood memories, especially related to summer vacations. From being an inanimate plastic object, the chair becomes charged with humanity, imbued with values such as welcome and hospitality.

Just like Nausicaa she welcomes you wherever you are

Even more, under the guise of Monobloc, Kuril Chto questions the relationship between objects and human beings and their interconnections. In this sense, the artist plays with the dimensions of the chair and creates miniatures that in some cases become accessories, such as the Monobloc necklace he presents during the exhibition. Here, in the gallery spaces, the chair is the undisputed protagonist while the human figure is absent, if not covered only by the public who becomes an active part of the path by being able to sit on chairs set up in the center of the space with umbrellas and beach tables. Nostalgia and loneliness are the emotions that Chto evokes, offering an additional layer of reflection with the inclusion of the epic. Nausicaa, the character in Homer’s Odyssey who offers shelter and food to Odysseus, becomes the perfect analogy for the Monobloc that has always been present in Kuril’s travels, wherever he was.

The exhibition Under Jove’s protection, sponsored by Bahnohof Gallery is open until May 17 at KUNST DEPOT ‘Wigs to Biri’ in Canareggio, Venice.

Courtesy Kuril Chto, Bahnhof Gallery

Katie Scarlett Griffin è illustratrice e animatrice che vive a Brooklyn, New York. Nei suoi disegni, ci sono scene di tutti i giorni, reinterpretate con lo spirito di Griffin che popola di colori vivaci e prospettive accattivanti le sue illustrazioni. Le illustrazioni di Katie – tutte sul suo profilo Instagram – spesso ruotano attorno al concetto di casa, ritraendo sale da pranzo, e cucine. Inoltre, esplora ambienti non convenzionali come campi da tennis e piscine, aggiungendo un elemento di sorpresa ai suoi lavori.

 

 

 

 

 

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Un post condiviso da Katie Scarlett Griffin (@katie.scarlett)

Una delle caratteristiche distintive delle illustrazioni di Katie è il suo tocco personale. Incorpora perfettamente piante, mobili e altre decorazioni dagli ambienti della sua casa, creando un senso di intimità e familiarità nella sua arte. Traendo ispirazione dai suoi viaggi, lavora anche con le immagini scattate con la sua macchina fotografica, concentrandosi in particolare sulle piante e sulle stanze che catturano la sua attenzione.

Attraverso le sue illustrazioni, Katie porta il suo pubblico in un viaggio che indaga gli spazi ordinari in una chiave tutta sua. L’uso innovativo del colore e della prospettiva incoraggia gli spettatori a guardare i suoi lavori con curiosità, analizzando ogni simpatico dettaglio.

Courtesy Katie Scarlett Griffin