Deconstructing Photography: Rashid Rana, Lisson Gallery, London

Review by Emily Sack, a candidate for the MA in Art History at Richmond the American International University in London.

Lisson Gallery’s newest exhibition highlights some of the recent works by Pakistani artist Rashid Rana. Rana works in photography but deconstructs typical photographic renderings and instead challenges the viewer to reconsider the world in which they live.

The first two pieces visible upon entering the gallery are entitled Language Series 1 and Language Series 2 (both from 2010-11). These large-scale works have the appearance of being landscape paintings from a slight distance. However, the interplay of colour and the almost mosaic-like visual texture evolves from the thousands of individual photographic fragments woven together. Each of the photographs depicts a sign of some sort, generally for a shop or restaurant, and in a variety of languages – both English and South Asian. Though most of the signs are not readily identifiable, they are recognized as an integral part of urban consumer culture and, therefore, form part of the modern cityscape. It is not a coincidence that Language Series 2 is reminiscent of a Monet garden painting for both the Impressionists and Rana use new techniques and aesthetics to create modern life paintings. By using the DIASEC technique, Rana’s photographs are bonded directly to acrylic glass creating a flawlessly smooth final product so the perceived texture is entirely visual.

In the main gallery on the ground floor the visitor encounters Rana’s Desperately Seeking Paradise II (2010-11). The work occupies an entire corner of the gallery and extends from corner to ceiling. Upon entering the space it appears to be a multifaceted and mirrored sculpture, but when one achieves the desired viewpoint, a cityscape miraculously appears. In between each crevice created by the stainless steel is a small photograph that reflects on the structure that encases it. The individual photographs are each unique and depict a different aspect of the urban environment. Together, however, the differences are not noticeable and they unite to become a magnificent city. Rana’s title for this work is rather poignant as it addresses the utopia and dystopia of a city. From a distance, a skyline of skyscrapers is a beautiful monument to modern life, but when coming closer to observe the details, the bigger picture disappears. The viewer becomes involved with looking at each of the smaller pictures and their own reflection within the metal frame so that it is easy to forget the panoramic image just witnessed. Cities are composed of individuals and all of the problems the individuals possess, and it is really only when stepping back that the comprehensive city view becomes visible.

Rana further challenges the traditional two-dimensional character of photography by creating Books-2 (2010-11). This sculpture consists of an aluminium cube with a pixelated photographic image adhered to the surface. At first glance it appears to be a stack of large books sitting in the middle of the gallery space. The pixilation becomes more pronounced as the viewer walks closer to the sculpture. Whereas the other works in the exhibition become clearer when examined closely, this work actually becomes more difficult to read and therefore more confusing and disorienting. Books are meant to be read, but here not only do they actually not exist, they cannot even be easily read. Rana is creating a contradictory space where the viewer must reconsider their beliefs on the nature of books, photography and art.

The exhibition as a whole is visually stunning, but after spending time with the works, the viewer understands the artist’s critical philosophy of the modern world. There is beauty to be found undoubtedly, but it is also important to recognize each of the individual components that comprise the landscape as a whole.

Rashid Rana continues at Lisson Gallery until 30 April. For more information visit the website.

Rashid Rana
Detail from Language Series # 1
2010-2011
LightJet print + DIASEC
360 cm x 270 cm
Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery

The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life: Dirt @ Wellcome Collection, London

Review by Carla MacKinnon

Wellcome Collection, a free visitor destination for the incurably curious has established an excellent name for itself as one of London's most unusual and absorbing cultural centres. Their high quality curation is both diverse and controlled, pulling artworks, artefacts and information from all corners of the world to tell one story. In this exhibition, running until the end of August, that story is dirt. Considering how ubiquitous dirt is, it is perhaps surprising how rarely it is examined in any but the most dismissive terms. This exhibition seeks to explore it deeper and examine mankind's relationship to it – materially, historically, culturally and psychologically.

In order to do this, the show shines a light on a series of snapshots of unique times, places and people. The first room contains paintings, illustrations and chinaware from 17th century Netherlands. Images of pious, neatly presented wives and maids ceaselessly scrubbing surfaces capture the spirit of cleanliness and introduce the notion of dirt as associated with degradation and a lack of virtue. The Netherlands were the birthplace of Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, the first man to have recorded seeing bacteria in 1683. One of van Leeuwenhock's original microscopes forms part of the exhibition, alongside a video of illuminated bacteria of the kind he discovered. These strange, glowing creatures moving together in rhythmic, mysterious patterns are arguably the most beautiful exhibit in the show. Next to this on the wall hangs anther striking piece – a simple china plate bearing the hand painted words 'you & i are Earth, 1661'. From one human to others, across 400 years, it is a quiet reminder of mortality.

Moving through the exhibition, the theme embraces the cholera epidemics of Victorian London. There is much here for lovers of satirical drawing, not least William Heath's wonderfully disgusting Monster Soup Commonly Called Thames Water (1828). Fans of information design will also find rich pickings here, from John Snow's map of the progress of disease centred on an infected water pump handle to William Farr's exquisite visual representation of the relationship between temperature and mortality rates in London.

Another focus is the Hygiene Museum in Dresden, originally opened as a result of the first World Hygiene Expo and later commandeered by the Nazis as a vehicle for the communication of eugenics propaganda. The complex psychological relationship society has to dirt is crystallised in the punishments and humiliations inflicted on Germany's Jewish population in the late 1930s – the exhibition features a photograph of Jews being forced to scrub streets on their hands and knees. Beside this is a poster stating 'Jews are lice. They cause Typhus'. As well as a sinister reminder of the medicalisation of anti-Semitism this is another example of dirt and cleanliness becoming ritualised, representing more than the material itself.

The idea of dirt as ritual is taken to a new level in the next room which brings us to India and introduces the goddess Durga. In the run up to the festival Durga Puja, idols of this goddess are crafted from dirt. These are then taken to the banks of the Ganges, submerged and destroyed as part of the traditional ritual. An extract from a documentary by Meghna Haldar tracks this process, interspersing interesting character studies (including an atheist craftsman condemned to a miserable season of drafting idols from filth) with poetic observations. “Nothing is so sacred that it cannot become profane” the voiceover states, “gravity pulls us into dirt”. In the adjoining room, a longer documentary by Paromita Vohra examines another side of India, looking at hygiene and sewage disposal in the country's urban slums. A range of informative and engaging artworks and artefacts manage to successfully present sewage systems of the developing world as richly fascinating area of study.

The exhibition is not short of contemporary art, alongside the information and historical exhibits.The room dealing with waste disposal in India is followed by another space housing a work by Santiago Sierra – a series of large sculptural blocks crafted in India from human excrement. The issues around scavenging, sewage disposal and hygiene problems in India are suddenly brought much closer by this strange, striking piece. In the final part of the show, Mierle Laderman Ukeles' video installation Penetration and Transparency: Morphed (2001-2) is one fruit of the artists' long term commitment to work around sanitation and her residency at Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. She refers to the site as 'a social sculpture we have all produced' and presents views of the landscape alongside profiles of and interviews with site workers.

With this exhibition. Wellcome have once again taken a seemingly impossibly broad subject and explored it in an intelligent, coherent, imaginative and engrossing show. Though perhaps lacking some of the punch of their best exhibitions (Sleeping and Dreaming (2008) and Identity (2009) shows were both extraordinary), it is a compelling journey into an important human preoccupation, offering an afternoon of small wonders to anyone interested in taking a closer look at the often uncelebrated details of life.

Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life continues at Wellcome Collection
until August 31 2011. For more information visit www.wellcomecollection.org

Image:
Engraving: 'Monster Soup..." by William Heath
Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Digital Tenderness: Clare Price, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London

Interview by Bethany Rex

Clare Price's new work represents a departure from the strictures of her previous work. Whilst adhering to the familiar formalist rules of earlier paintings, starting with the hand rendered pixellated lines that form a grid for the work there is a new energy and freedom that is seen both in the leaving behind of her traditonal landscape format and also the breaking down of the relationship with the original drawing. We caught up with one of the directors, Charlie Dutton to find out what it takes to open your own gallery.

What was your background prior to opening the gallery?
I completed a Fine Art degree at Central St. Martins in 1996 and then was lucky to be able to consistently practice as an artist, working mainly in paint and photography. I also worked as an assistant to some really well known artists which provided me with some great opportunites and learning experiences! I always loved putting on exhibitions, not just my own but other peoples too. I naturally found hosting and promoting art thrilling and a valuable and meaningful part of the creative process. I’m not sure I can properly express how much I love art.

The gallery only opened in 2010, what’s your vision for the gallery?
It’s been a fantastic year and we have had some really amazing shows with brilliant artists- some mid career and some very much emerging. We’ve been feeling our way as we go and now it is operating as a new model of gallery - a cross between an ‘artist run project space’ and a commercial gallery. Everything at the Charlie Dutton Gallery is a collaboration and the direction of each show is shaped by the passion of the artists and the co-curators who have been involved. I feel like this reflects our geographical position in the heart of London, half- way between the commercial West End and the more ‘artist run’ East, so it feels natural. I hope the gallery can get more involved in some off- site projects too, and working with public spaces. I just want to be able to continue putting on amazing shows with amazing people, whatever forms they take, whist maintaining the critical visual language which the gallery has cultivated.

How do you find the artists you represent? What kind of relationship exists between you and the artist?
I don’t actually represent artists in the traditional sense and I don’t think I will for the foreseeable future, although if it felt right there’d be nothing to stop it happening. This is part of the collaborative approach I was talking about. If a show is right for the artist and the gallery we can make it happen together and do everything we can to promote it. After that if an artist wants to continue to build a relationship that’s fantastic- if something else comes along that’s best for them I fully support them in that too- but I always hope we’ll be able to come together again somewhere somehow! I’ve been a practicing artist and I think that is why I have such an excellent relationship with the artists and most importantly such a trusting one.

Are you excited to be working with Clare Price for the current show? How did your relationship come about?
I’ve known Clare for a while now, and I’ve always loved her work. The expressiveness and sort of cyber-punky nature is so electrifying. Price manages to produce an aesthetic that sits perfectly in todays technological world, while retaining and communicating very primary understandings of construct and feelings of beauty. She has observed a moment in time which belongs to every single one of us.

Coming from the world of moving image and directing, what impact do you think this has had on Price’s use of gesture?
I believe that Price’s use of gesture has its roots in her painting background as well as her love and obsession with 50s abstract painting (De Kooning, Joan Mitchell, late Patrick Heron) and in the contemporary sense people like Albert Oehlen and Christopher Wool. Her literal moving image and directing experience affects the work both in the carefully realised sense of composition, and more obtusely in her deeper and broader understandings of the image. The digital and emerging technologies that Price has encountered have had their effect too- the obsession with and use of pixels for example, and the wider themes of technological glitsches and digital drop out.

What are your aims for the gallery and what else does your programme hold in 2011?
Promoting great art is paramount. There are so many talented and passionate artists out there and I only wish I could show every single one. I believe that as long as the gallery sticks to its guns and doesn’t comprimise on quality and the high calibre of it’s visual language then I can continue to put on shows that I’m immensely proud of, and I can continue to show these shows to the gowing and diverse audience that I reach. The Open Salon show gives great exposure to the artists who enter. Nigel Grimmer, the winner from last year, is now working on a solo show for the Charlie Dutton Gallery in the Autumn. We have Simon Haddock next, then an exciting group show including Katrina Blannin, Andrew Bick and Marta Marce in the summer, followed up by a photography Salon and then it’s probably three more shows till the end of the year. It’s always busy. But mainly it’s always exciting and inspiring.

Digital Tenderness continues at Charlie Dutton Gallery, London until 30 April. For more information visit www.charlieduttongallery.com

Image: Gonna flight and tear it up in a hypernation for you 267x163cm
Courtesy the artist and Charlie Dutton gallery.