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In Boris Savelev‘s haunting images, mundane moments are interpreted through the abstract prism of his lens. His constructivist heritage is clear and Savelev renders the familiar into complex and strange multi-layered pictures. Like Malevic, Kandinsky and Rodchenko before him, Savelev continues to experiment with light, shadows and form.

Lopatiuk, Chernowiz, 1996 © Boris Savelev

Cafe Ion, Moscow, 2009 © Boris Savelev

PR-Text: Regarded by many now as one of Russia’s most important living photographers, Savelev is an artist at the peak of his career. Working with Factum in Madrid, Savelev has again used this extraordinary and proprietary printing process that allows him to fully realise his photographic vision. This new show is composed solely of colour works. Adam Lowe and Rafa Rachewsky at Factum Arte in Madrid, using their own custom-made flatbed multi-layer pigment printer make the images onto gesso coated aluminum panels, allowing for an extraordinary degree of control within what is a mechanical medium. Each image is finished by hand and then waxed which leaves the surface with a rich and penetrating range of tones and hues. There is absolutely nothing else like this printing process in the world and its permanence is proven.

Jelty Bus,Chernowitz, 2011 © Boris Savelev

In Savelev’s haunting images, mundane moments are interpreted through the abstract prism of his lens. His constructivist heritage is clear and Savelev renders the familiar into complex and strange multi-layered pictures. Like Malevic, Kandinsky and Rodchenko before him, Savelev continues to experiment with light, shadows and form. Punctuated by silhouettes, faces, and fleeting movements each photograph is a snatched fragment of narrative. Savelev has the extraordinary ability to make prints that emulate how our eyes actually read light and dark. Details in shadows, rich glorious colours broken by intervening reflections through glass and strange perspectives make his work incredibly exciting to experience in person. We have never represented an artist with such technical ability. Savelev is the definition of an artist who does not simply take images, but makes his images by being at the controls of all the equipment he uses.

Born in Chernovitz in 1947 he moved to Moscow in 1966, a rocket engineer through his working life, Savelev found photography later on and has committed himself to this exciting chapter in photography’s short history wholeheartedly.

Info + illus. courtesy MHGallery

Michael Hoppen Contemporary London presents a new series of photographs by Simon Norfolk, commissioned by Tate Modern.  In the autumn of 2010 Simon Norfolk began a photographic project in Afghanistan, taking its cue from the work of nineteenth century British photographer John Burke.  Norfolk’s images reimagine or respond to Burke’s Afghan war scenes in the context of the contemporary conflict.

A security guard’s booth at the newly restored Ikhtiaruddin Citadel, Herat, 2010 40x53" from an edition of 7 © Simon Norfolk

Burke + Norfolk: Photographs from the war in Afghanistan

New series of photographs by Simon Norfolk, commissioned by Tate Modern

13^th May – 18^th June 2011

Michael Hoppen | Contemporary

London

www.michaelhoppengallery.com

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PR-Text: “Burke is an enigma; working with him was like looking for a man amongst shadows. He left no diaries or records, unlike other Imperial photographers from the same generation. There are no photographs of him. In a couple of sketches we see him from behind, but never his face; that has to be more than just reticence, surely?”  Simon Norfolk

Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later. Kabul, 2010 40x53" from an edition of 7 © Simon Norfolk

Michael Hoppen Contemporary is pleased to present a new series of photographs by Simon Norfolk, commissioned by Tate Modern.  In the autumn of 2010 Simon Norfolk began a photographic project in Afghanistan, taking its cue from the work of nineteenth century British photographer John Burke.  Norfolk’s images reimagine or respond to Burke’s Afghan war scenes in the context of the contemporary conflict. A symbiotic project, Norfolk takes references from Burke’s original portfolios.

John Burke (1843-1900) was the first photographer to make pictures in Afghanistan. He accompanied British forces during the invasion that became the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878-1880 producing a small number of albums of prints for sale to the general public. These were sold through his studios in Rawalpindi, Peshawar and the summertime mountain retreat of Muree in a region which is now Pakistan but at the time was the borderlands of British Imperial India.

A view of Kabul City from Bala Burj, 2011 40x53" from an edition of 7 © Simon Norfolk

Simon Norfolk was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1963 and educated in England finishing in Oxford and Bristol universities with a degree in Philosophy and Sociology. After leaving the documentary Photography course in Newport, S. Wales, he worked for far-left publications specialising in work on anti-racist activities and fascist groups. In 1994 he gave up photojournalism in favour of landscape photography. In 2004 Simon won The Infinity Award from the ICP in New York and in 2005 Le Prix Dialogue in Arles. His work appears regularly in the New York Times Magazine and the Guardian Weekend.

Info + illus. courtesy Michael Hoppen Contemporary

For the fourth time, the “Pavilion of Art & Design” in London (Berkeley Square) presents selected works of Design, modern art, photography, jewelery and tribal arts. Swiss gallery Gmurzynska, one of the 50 leading international galleries, shows classical modern and contemporary art – in a fair boot exclusively designed by Zaha Hadid.

For an English info please use this link.

Pavilion of Art & Design, London 2010

13. – 17. Oktober 2010

Galerie Gmurzynska‘s booth by Zaha Hadid

Explosion Graphic for Pavilion of Art and Design / London, ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS, Gmurzynska Gallery 30/09/2010

Aus dem PR-Text der Galerie Gmuzynska: Spektakulär war schon die Ausstellung „Zaha Hadid and Suprematism“ diesen Sommer in der Züricher Galerie Gmurzynska, welche von Zaha Hadid kuratiert und designt wurde. Nun verwandelt die Stararchitektin den Messestand der Galerie bei „Pavilion of Art & Design, London 2010“ in ein Gesamtkunstwerk. Das dynamische, transformative Schwarz/Weiß Design des Messestands ist durch eine Explosion inspiriert. Somit entsteht ein Dialog zwischen dem Stand und den Kunstwerken der Klassischen Moderne wobei die Themen Abstraktion, Verformung, Zersplitterung und Schweben im Fokus stehen. Eine 2-dimensionale Zeichnung wird in einen 3-dimensionalen Raum projiziert, wodurch der Stand zu einem räumlichen Kunstwerk wird: Die Grenzen der flachen Bilder werden ausgedehnt und damit erlebbar gemacht. Diese Umgebung bietet die perfekte Bühne für eine Auswahl an Zaha Hadids Kunstwerken und Werken der Klassischen Moderne.

Die Stararchitektin Zaha Hadid hat im September den „Stirling Prize 2010“ gewonnen, die höchste Auszeichnung des „Royal Institute of British Architecture“, und wurde vom Time Magazine in die Liste der 100 einflussreichsten Menschen des Jahres 2010 aufgenommen.

Aktuelle Ansicht des Messestandes

Galerie Gmurzynska ist seit mehr als 40 Jahren spezialisiert auf die Meisterwerke der Klassischen Moderne, der zeitgenössischen Kunst und auf Künstler der russischen Avantgarde. An den drei Standorten St. Moritz, Zürich und Zug setzt die Galerie Zeichen und informiert über die wichtigste Kunst des letzten Jahrhunderts . Mehr als 100 Kataloge, Bücher und Werksverzeichnisse entstanden in enger Zusammenarbeit mit weltweit renommierten Experten. Galerie Gmurzynska wird in Zukunft ihr Galerieprogramm erweitern und ihren Fokus vermehrt auf die Werke des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts und deren Einfluss auf die heutige Kunst legen. Damit baut die Galerie eine Brücke zwischen moderner und zeitgenössischer Kunst.

Info + illus. Galerie Gmurzynska

AedesLAND Berlin presents a photo(geo)graphical installation by Dutch artist Charlie Koolhaas. Her “True Cities” is  a collection of app. 200 images, installed on the walls like a huge book.

Shot from the Vernissage © AedesLAND

The photographs were shot in four metropolises – Guangzhou, Dubai, Lagos and London – and catch glimpses of the political and cultural landscapes there. Installed on the wall and the arches of the gallery, the urban agglomerations are getting closer – as they are indeed, caused by the rapid expansion and impact of globalization. Like a patchwork of urban fabrics, the photographs show how interconnected the world is. The show “is about cultural fusion and cultural confusion, connections and meetings, moments of creativity and pain”, says the Aedes press release. “True Cities” makes the different scenes bounce off each other, resonate and enter a dialogue.

Koolhaas captures the true faces of the megapolises behind the scenes – she shows what usually isn’t shown: From London’s poor and shabby East End, now open to housing speculation as it is having a complete olympic “makeover” to Guangzhou where densification dominates everything – not even hints of “socializing” the claustrophobic city, architectural excesses with no regard on eaves  heights or aereation. (A more detailed description in German on Berliner Morgenpost.)

In a video on Vernissage.tv, Charlie Koolhaas talks about the concept of the exhibition.

Charlie Koolhaas, a Dutch artist raised in London, currently works from her studio in Guangzhou, China. She is a trained sociologist and has worked as a magazine editor, exhibition curator, writer as well as photographer. Her photos are coined by this multidisciplinary approach applied to the urban experience.

And to all of you who might wonder about her name: yes, indeed, Charlie Koolhaas has a well-known father whose work certainly has influenced her interest in the global urban developments, I’d say. He had several shows at Aedes as well. If you browse the galleries snapshots from the opening you can find a shot with him and Zaha H. as well.

True Cities
Eine foto(geo)grafische Installation von Charlie Koolhaas
AedesLand, Berlin
30. Januar – 26. März 2009

In January (13.01.09 – 31.01.09), Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London, shows photographs by John Davies, an English photographer known for his narrative shots of British landscape. “His black and white photographs show the vast, complex and majestic scenery of industrial and post industrial Britain. He establishes classical geometries within his unique vision that take on a mystical appeal. His works are coolly detached and seductive, showing moments of calm and quiet amidst the inevitable change of the modern landscape.” (quote by MH Contemporary)

House 1 1993 © John Davies courtesy of Michael Hoppen Gallery Silver Gelatin Print 30 x 42 inches

In 1993, Davies made a series of 9 photographs which portray “House”, a public scultpure by Rachel Whiteread, winner of the renowned Turner Prize in 1993 and the first woman to be awarded.

Whiteread is best known for her sculptures  which are actually casts: “In the late 1980s, Rachel Whiteread began casting the ‘negative spaces’ inside and underneath domestic objects and soon moved on to architectural features and entire rooms.” (quote by MH Contemporary)

John Davies: House 8 1993 © John Davies courtesy of Michael Hoppen Contemporary Silver Gelatin Print 30 x 42 inches

House (1993), perhaps Whiteread’s best known work (according to wikipedia.com), was a concrete cast of the inside of an entire Victorian terraced house completed in autumn 1993, exhibited at the location of the original house — 193 Grove Road — in East London (all the houses in the street had earlier been knocked down by the council).

“Whiteread created the work by spraying liquid concrete into the building’s empty shell before its walls were removed. The work became a temporary monument to lost communities and a focus for public debate before it was demolished in January 1994. It stood alone as a symbol of survival, as all the other houses in Grove Road had already been knocked down to make way for redevelopment.”

“The House project was commissioned by the public works organisation Artangel. Whiteread asked Artangel to commission Davies to make some pictures for a limited edition book to record what was her largest and most ambitious work to date.” (quote by MH Contemporary)

Davies photographs are all that remains of house, site and sculpture. His photographs document the site of the condemned building, documenting the scaffolding going up, the cement ‘ghost’ of the building, and finally, the empty space the structure occupied.

John Davies Rachel Whiteread HOUSE

13.01.09 – 31.01.09

Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place,
London SW3 3TD