Guiseppe Gabellone, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Michael Dean, Becky Beasley, Sara VanDerBeek, Marie Lund, Abäke, Nina Beier
24.8.-16.9.12
Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger
Photos of ephemeral sculptures
I have always been fascinated by the power of a photograph. Also when it comes to photographing art, or photo as art itself. Therefore I read the presentation of this exhibition with great interest. The topic is short-lived sculptures, or rather the photos of short-lived sculptures. A great effort is made to make sculptures, then they are photographed, then destroyed, and the only proof and memory of the sculptures are in the photos. It is all in the photo, if it disappears, the memory of the sculpture disappears.
Guiseppe Gabellone: Untitled
Found photos are printed on fabric, and hung on frames to be photographed. Unlike commercial banners with easily recognizable logos, these pictures show something we will never know what was. The wind creates movement and distort the pictures, and the only moment caught on the photo is when the fabric was hanging just like this. We will never know how it would look like if it was straight, we have to imagine it.
Daniel Gustav Cramer: First Snow IV
There are few things as ephemeral as the first snow. This column of snowballs have probably melted and had some rounds in the snow-water-evaporation-cloud-snow circuit since the photo was made. But the photo fixed that exact moment, that exact state of stable snow.
Michael Dean: Claires arms at night (working title)
Balloons are put in or coincidentally happened to be in a pattern seeming like a Chinese sign or a cryptic pictogram. Each and every balloon were probably moving immediately after the photo was taken, and they are probably all empty now. The Chinese balloon sign stays on the photo, and you have plenty of time to figure out what it means.
Becky Beasley: Build, Night (showing 2 of 3 photos)
Seeming like an IKEA user guide of how to assemble a box, but these photos rather show the process of disassembling into the pieces it consisted of. The pieces seems to have been ripped off, never to be put together again.What it was been before it was disassembled, and whether they are the same or three different is up to the viewer to decide.
Sara VanDerBeek: Baltimore Dancers Nine / Ten
The legs of dancers become sculptures, that last as long as the dancers can keep the position. They will be able to recreate the pose almost, but not totally. The camera caught that exact moment. Thus in this context these are not only photos of legs, but of movement, or a frozen moment that will never happen again.
Marie Lund with Abäke: Turtles
Sculptures or items found at the flea market are photographed by the artist. The items are so worn down that they are unrecognizable. Or are they? Were they supposed to look like this? Or what did they originally look like? Nobody can tell anymore, what has been has been, this is now.
Nina Beier: The demonstrators (Balancing Potato)
A giant portrait of a potato is fixed to a conference table. A real potato on the table would almost not have been visible, and it would soon rot. This potato is getting more attention than the table it is on. And the original potato is probably transformed into dirt a long time ago.
The exhibition points to what is and what is not, what exists and what does not exist. The art value of the sculptures are transferred to the photos of the sculptures.
