Transparence - To see through the thickness of matter- such is the experience one can have at the Taïss Gallery's exhibition of the Danish sculptor Kristian Dahlgaard. A paradoxical experience, because the hollow figures, whose existence remains visible, emanate from the volume of the blocks like so many immaterial auras that can still be felt.
The artist has decomposed the volume and mass of his material, consecrating his research to space, exploring what lies between the layers. Kristian Dahlgaard left the traditional block of stone behind to work with fine plates (generally compressed boards which are reputed to be more malleable) that he juxtaposes one over the other, leaving a narrow space in between. Using a handsaw he cuts a silhouette- often his own- as if the figure corresponding to the silhouette had disappeared into thin air, leaving its form behind. The sculptures The Doors and The Beatles are examples of this, as well as L'Européen (The European), a pallet of sixty cardboard moving boxes cut around the profile of the artist, like an imprint of his brief passage.
In the drawings for the No Cover series, the idea is to see the invisible everyone carries behind their surface. For material, Dahlgaard has chosen magazine covers (Paris Match, Point de Vue, Le Point) featuring politicians, actors and other personalities accompanied by catchy headlines. He then reworks these photographs to reveal the aura hidden behind the sophistication. Transformed into anonymous skeletons and commentated grotesquely by the headlines, these personalities, contemporary memento mori, remind one of death's constant work on celebrity, wealth, beauty and power.
In this way, in a different fashion, No Cover joins the existential content of his of sculptures.
Victor Sydorenko, Levitation (3th floor)
Following "Authentification", which marked the opening of Taïss in September 2008, and "Depersonalization", at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in March 2009, the exhibition "Levitation", a recent series of large-format paintings continues Victor Sydorenko's human and artistic quest.
A single connecting thread - a single preoccupation - links these three stages: The definition of human identity in the post-totalitarian society of today's Ukraine.
As in his previous work, "Levitation" posits a fundamental ambiguity. This character who seems freed from all constraint at the same time runs the risk of losing its identity. The space, sans landmarks, sans coordinates, in which he floats, removes all possibility of being identified through context. His clothing (a simple pair of boxers) removes all exterior sign of personality. Is he free or emptied of his individual substance?
Note that this time the artist uses his own features as a model for the character : The viewer must therefore be able to identify with the floating figure and let themselves go into a space which is, if not one of liberation, at least of a relief from their condition.
The artist has decomposed the volume and mass of his material, consecrating his research to space, exploring what lies between the layers. Kristian Dahlgaard left the traditional block of stone behind to work with fine plates (generally compressed boards which are reputed to be more malleable) that he juxtaposes one over the other, leaving a narrow space in between. Using a handsaw he cuts a silhouette- often his own- as if the figure corresponding to the silhouette had disappeared into thin air, leaving its form behind. The sculptures The Doors and The Beatles are examples of this, as well as L'Européen (The European), a pallet of sixty cardboard moving boxes cut around the profile of the artist, like an imprint of his brief passage.
In the drawings for the No Cover series, the idea is to see the invisible everyone carries behind their surface. For material, Dahlgaard has chosen magazine covers (Paris Match, Point de Vue, Le Point) featuring politicians, actors and other personalities accompanied by catchy headlines. He then reworks these photographs to reveal the aura hidden behind the sophistication. Transformed into anonymous skeletons and commentated grotesquely by the headlines, these personalities, contemporary memento mori, remind one of death's constant work on celebrity, wealth, beauty and power.
In this way, in a different fashion, No Cover joins the existential content of his of sculptures.
Victor Sydorenko, Levitation (3th floor)
Following "Authentification", which marked the opening of Taïss in September 2008, and "Depersonalization", at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in March 2009, the exhibition "Levitation", a recent series of large-format paintings continues Victor Sydorenko's human and artistic quest.
A single connecting thread - a single preoccupation - links these three stages: The definition of human identity in the post-totalitarian society of today's Ukraine.
As in his previous work, "Levitation" posits a fundamental ambiguity. This character who seems freed from all constraint at the same time runs the risk of losing its identity. The space, sans landmarks, sans coordinates, in which he floats, removes all possibility of being identified through context. His clothing (a simple pair of boxers) removes all exterior sign of personality. Is he free or emptied of his individual substance?
Note that this time the artist uses his own features as a model for the character : The viewer must therefore be able to identify with the floating figure and let themselves go into a space which is, if not one of liberation, at least of a relief from their condition.
