Caught the exhibition of
Gyorgy Kepes at Tate Modern. I generally go inside the Tate to see something
specific – I don’t just wander around in an aimless way from room to room. On
this occasion I wanted to see the work of Gyorgy Kepes who was interested in
the relationship between art, science and technology.
Gyorgy Kepes - Pinterest
His photographic work covers
both scientific and mechanical objects but he also took photographs of nature,
he was interested in light, particularly the balance between light, space and
movement. In his photographs he juxtaposed everyday objects such as bread,
scraps of paper, gauze, stones, leaves and feathers, for example, creating
abstract works. He was interested in capturing the different shades of light onto
photographic paper see pic. below. The photographs in the exhibition are presented
horizontally at eye level, and are neatly framed. The curation of the
exhibition shows the evolution of his work in a linear manner.
Structure Photogram, Tate Org.
Hi photographs are carefully
composed, done without the use of the camera but by exposing objects to light
on photographic paper. None of the images is large scale, but small to medium
scale as one would expect from this typical process and that specific period.
The photographs in this exhibition are all from the 1930’s till 1940’s taken at
the Institute of Design in Chicago. It’s a pity that his later work was not
included in the exhibition as it doesn’t show his further development through his
photographs between art and science/technology. Through his work and experiments
he hoped that it would help scientists find new representations for visual
models. In his later years he was also concerned by the negative effect
technology could have on the planet and the possibility that advanced
technology could destabilize men’s biological nature with catastrophic
consequences. The exhibition is cut short and it only includes works from his
early period; whilst it could have been a bigger exhibition, it is a compact
introduction to him and his early work for the novice. He was also part of
another exhibition at Tate Liverpool titled Surreal Landscape.
Leaf and Prism, Tate Org.
Throughout his work he
searched for points of contacts between art and science, and he discovered this
in nature as a common discourse see pic. above.
I am particularly interested
in his photographs as I am currently working in photograms as well, exploring
abstraction. His photograms are rather abstract and I have a keen interest in
the relationship between technology and photography. At the beginning, he didn’t see technology in
itself as negative, he was experimenting. But later on he warned against unrestricted
proliferation of technology. He believed science could help us see and
understand the connection between the macro and the micro in the world. He was
also interested in how we harvest and how we create and channel energy. His
work has been acknowledge as having critical impact on the development of
digital images on our digital devices.
The room with his work was
located on level 2 of the Tate Modern’s East side of the building. Several
people from the Tate didn’t know who he was or where the room was located.
Finally I found two people from the Tate who knew at least where the East side
section was after 30 minutes of searching. It is the first room as you come out
of the escalator just to save you time on level 2 of the main building, I went
by mistake to the west side.
Yes I spent half an hour
looking for this exhibition and I realized how easy it is to get lost even in the
old wing of the Tate Modern!
No comments:
Post a Comment