Bring home the oranges - Exhibitions

Sutton Lane is pleased to announce the first exhibition in London of French artist Clément Rodzielski. The artist presents a series of new works that investigate the modes of appearance and of circulation of objects. The movie poster Elena et les hommes is a collector’s item in itself that has been folded in order to be circulated, passed from hand to hand and stored etc. Rodzielski traces the physical properties of the object by applying spray paint to the back of the poster while unfolding it. Once the poster is entirely unfurled and exhibited, light traces of paint are shining through.

The work Untitled (Portrait allemand), 2010 has as its source the original engraving for a set of German playcards from the 19th century. The artist resumes the fabrication of the card set which had never been completed, by colouring and cutting it.

Next to the set of cards is exhibited a large panel of standard format MDF featuring a fragment of wallpaper. The fragment is part of a wallpaper motif consisting of eight parts. The selected detail is taken from the background of the principal motif. In a manner similar to the cut magazine series, the artist has selected only peripheral fragments which are marginal to the subject matter.

The group of paintings 4 fonds colorés pour le faire-part de Molly, 2010 was originally created as a backdrop for a card that was commissioned to the artist to announce the birth of the child Molly. In this exhibition the works are being removed from their original context and purpose. They shift from one state to another, from background to foreground, from ‘decor’ back to painting.

Through his minimal interventions in the objects he recovers and rearranges, Rodzielski creates a doubling, a shift – the images lose their original sense becoming a different entity.

« When ill at ease in a group, I often take out of my coat pocket a folded paper, and study it intently, although I know it just says ‘bring home the oranges’ or some such thing. »

– Jacques Tourneur