Carte Blanche to Campoli Presti - Exhibitions

Campoli Presti is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Liz Deschenes and Cheyney Thompson alongside Jean Prouvé as part of the Carte Blanche series at Galerie Patrick Seguin, London.

The exhibition takes three mobile structures (paintings, photographs, and architectural elements) to explore the analytical division of light and shadow. From very different, medium- specific standpoints, the works expose imperceptible transitions of light to reflect on the works’ materiality and their inscription in time.

Liz Deschenes’ practice seeks to expand what is usually determined as photographic by producing works that stand between image and sculpture. Her work exposes the most essential photographic elements – paper, light, and chemicals – to detach photography from its status as a document and explore its potential as an object closely related to the architecture that surrounds it. Deschenes’ installation comprises two groups of photograms that evoke Etienne-Jules Marey’s protocinematic explorations on movement. The light-shifting effect of the works is activated by the fluctuating luminosity of Prouvé’s shutter and by Thompson’s vertical sequences. The installation results in a subtle, continuous change of light across the space and into different surfaces, activated by the viewer’s movements.

Responding specifically to Prouvé’s Brise-Soleil (shutter), the dimensions of Deschenes’ photograms replicate the distance he originally stipulated between shutters and windows. Jean Prouvé progressively used aluminum in accord with his commitment to make architecture a light, mobile structure that could be mass-produced and easily assembled, following the postulate that there is no structural difference between furniture and a building. His African houses, built for extremely high temperatures, were usually surrounded by aluminum frames that assured ventilation. The Brise-Soleil on display was initially conceived for a housing and commercial building in Conakry, Guinea, in 1953. Besides regulating temperature, Prouvé’s shutters dimmed the light from the outside without obstructing the view, creating a specific balance between isolation and exposure. Strategically installed in the street-facing window of the gallery, the shutter regulates the exhibition’s visibility from the outside and the migration of light onto the works.

Cheyney Thompson’s Chronochromes track their own time of production through the inscription of Munsell’s colour system onto a calendar. The month, hour, and day of the time of production are indicated by colours on the painting. Each day is paired with a complementary hue, each hour changes the colours’ value, and each month the saturation changes, producing a smooth gradient that could be seen as representing a continuous flow of time. Noon being absolute white and midnight absolute black, the works show the transition between light and dark, productivity and withdrawal.