Paulsen Collection Book Launch and Exhibition Review by Ambra Gattiglia Books falling from the ceiling, postcards to be taken, and pallet installations bestow a motley aesthetic to the book launch of Paulsen Collection, a newcomer to photographic publication. The exhibition features blow-ups of selected pictures from Sasha Gusov, Xenia McBell, Vladimir Mishukov and Paulina Otylie Surys, as well as the bound books, which are available for perusal and sale. Design Devision, the studio that has designed both the volumes and the event, succeeded in conveying a clean cut to the multiplicity of styles featured in the books – experimental photography, blasting colour, and traditional black and white photographs all find their place at Unit 24. The exhibition expands over the two floors of the gallery. Sasha Gusov’s black and white pictures and Vladimir Mishukov’s vibrant images portraying Slava Polunin – a famous artist within Russian performance art and clown practice— occupy the ground floor, illuminated by the natural light that shines through the imposing glass wall of the gallery. On the opposite wall there is a peculiar element of distraction: the gallery shares the space with a dry cleaning facility and racks of clothes are suspended over the visitor’s heads. Climbing up the precarious spiral staircase, hanging from the ceiling we find Paris and London, the small volumes of Vladimir Mishukov and Xenia McBell. Consistent with the concept of these volumes that were envisioned as visual travel guides of the cities they portray, the public is invited to take home postcards. Limbo, the first monographic publication of Paulina Otylie Surys, completes this assorted journey, featuring a selection of the big scale staged photographs of the enigmatic and timeless fictional characters on which the artist intervenes by hand of tireless technical experimentations. The exhibition is characterised by a polyphony of contrasts but an equilibrium is always to be found. The vinyl letters presenting excerpts of text from the volumes on display uniform the disparity of styles, frames, and sizes by the use of the same format. Notwithstanding, such a polished look is constantly challenged by the roughness of the white pallets that occupy the ground floor with their sculptural presence. Design Devision and the exhibition team have developed an interacting and functional method for the presentation of photographic publications, now it is up to Paulsen Collection to tackle our curiosity with some fresh publications and the continued discovery of upcoming artists.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:08:23 +0000
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