Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London 14 September – 19 October
Reviewed by: Lucy Wilson
When presented with a group of sculptures associated by their relationships to architecture, it would be easy to expect works on a grandiose scale. Instead, 'EU2', an exhibition of sculpture by ten European artists, looks at the unexpected associations between art and architecture and steers clear of obvious notions of architectural and spatial transformation.
Claire Barclay's Untitled, projecting from a corner – a strip of kid leather stretched taut across a bow of brushed aluminium – uses lo-fi, familiar materials which give the work a domestic feel. Tobias Rehberger's Christian (Sitzgelegenheiten) also alludes to interior space – its cylindrical forms could be seating and its macramé-string surface is a reminder of a 1970s homespun aesthetic.
Untitled (light strips) by Siobhan Liddell is constructed from two long, thin sheets of paper pinned vertically to a wall. Playing on illusions created by light – a common theme in architecture – an inch-wide, apparently illuminated space hovers between the paper and the wall. On closer inspection, you see that the paper is coated with Day-Glo paint on its reverse, throwing a coloured reflection onto the wall – no strip light after all. The simplicity of the work betrays the thought process and conceptual architecture that proceeded its making.
The sheer scale of many architectural projects is played down throughout the show. A model of Rachel Whiteread's Trafalgar Square project is a miniature version of the fourth plinth, denying any notions of grandeur whilst Manfred Pernice's Ohne titel takes elements of real buildings and downsizes them to make work on a more approachable, human scale.
References to domestic space, conceptual space and illusionary space emerge time and again within the show, carefully encompassing the less obvious qualities of architecture to provide a resolved and interesting view of its relationship with art.
Writer detail:
LUCY WILSON
is based in London.
Venue detail:
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