Photo: © South London Gallery
On the wooden floors of the South London Gallery big black blocks and weird objects are stapled throughout the room. Along with two short films the blocks, which together make out an installation, are French art historian Isabelle Cornaro’s homage to 17th-century artist Nicolas Poussin.
The block installation is an abstract reinterpretation of the Baroque leader’s depiction of landscapes, using found objects and ready-mades to bring to life a 400-year old painting. The piece is as visually and aesthetically pleasing as it is intriguing.
The blocks form a three-dimensional composition, which changes and unfolds itself as you explore it from different angles. The objects serve as clever details and add depth to the piece through symbolic value and drawing on the viewer’s associations. The marble ornaments and the simple, elegant use of colours such as black, gold and dark blue clearly resonate with Poussin’s firmly rooted position in the French Baroque. Overall, the dialogue between the different elements creates a dynamic and well-rounded piece.
The visual vocabulary laid out in the installation is explored further in two videos, which are presented on the second floor. In Figures (2011), objects such as jewellery, coins and banknotes appear in shifting colourful shots. The piece underlines Cornaro’s ability to create an abstract, but yet meaningful narrative out of everyday objects. As a viewer, you get a sense of lurking through someone’s private collection of hoarded treasures. The first word that comes to mind is greed.
The second video Premier reve d’Oskar Fischinger (2008), meaning Oskar Fischinger’s First Dream, is another example of how Cornaro combines practical art and art history. Rather than one skill relying on the other, they are woven together, resulting in a very rich language loaded with references and symbolism.
The title refers to Oskar Fischinger, who was a German-American artist renowned for working with abstract musical animation decades before music videos and computer graphics arrived.
Premier reve is not accompanied by sound. Instead ready-mades are arranged in a chaotic, but seemingly calculated way, and lit up by coloured lights. The result is an abstract work, made accessible through its poetic title.
Both videos come across as a series of Internet GIFs rather than short films, which is an interesting way of linking historic references to the present digital age.
Isabelle Cornaro is a very respected contemporary artist. Her works have been exhibited all over the world and can also be found in public collections such as the one of Pompidou in Paris.
Hence, it is a regrettable that the South London Gallery has not put more emphasis on conveying the art in a way that would make it accessible to more people. Art so rich in historic references can be a confusing and somewhat patronising experience if you lack sufficient background knowledge. Thumbs up to Cornaro, thumbs down to the shallow information booklet.
