Last time I visited 87 Hackford Road, Stockwell House where young people live Vincent Van Gogh In 2014, it was a tenant briefly. Then, it collected the spectrum sound works of the artist Saskia Olde Wolbers, but I wrote that it was in a “regrettable state, with all the walls and dirty furniture”. Obviously, if the important proof of Van Gogh’s short stay in London is to survive, it needs to be taken seriously.
This house has now been lightly remodeled by the Wang family, especially the current creative director Livia Wang. Museum And art space. She initiated an annual committee, the first to be entrusted to Brian Griffiths and Frank Kent, who collaborated to create sculptures in the form of photos.
Griffiths and Kent created evocative sculptural collages. These collages are set in the stage environment and are composed of construction cubes that serve as the boundaries of the photo. They create a peculiar, rich space between the camera lens and the space occupied by the object. Exploring the relationship of effectiveness. They describe the works of the Van Gogh House as “a horizontal moment of focus and narrative”, responding to the house, its history, and Van Gogh’s work and life. Every room, even the toilet, has a photo. In the living room downstairs, the work is reminiscent of Van Gogh’s 1888 chair painting-simple and practical-as well as Gauguin’s-elegant and delicate carvings. But this was done through the work of another artist, Bob Law, who made sculptures of chairs in the 1980s.
Griffiths and Kent brought Law’s sculptural tribute back to the realm of painting composition. You think about Van Gogh’s point of view—he looked down at his chair, where we saw something at the level of sight—and his extraordinary colors. By placing his chair against the orange background, the artists emphasized the vivid yellow in the original painting, which Luo also noticed. There are also good improvisations on other paintings, in the flowers, pasted on the background behind the chair.
Throughout the process, people gently nodded to Van Gogh, suggesting his paintings and our memories of them. The decorative parasol evokes his love for Japanese prints. In the dark scene where the tiles suggest the roof at night, a beam of light shines with the intensity of a Vincent star.
The work in the kitchen refers to his early potato field work. Griffith and Kent placed the potatoes in fertile soil, under the straw-colored textile layer. Here, the composition and composition trigger a variety of illusions, as if we are underground or across the field looking towards the horizon. At the same time, the small photo in the toilet is of a single sprouting potato.
Finally, in Vincent’s bedroom, a figure in pajamas was lying on the bed reading Van Gogh’s book, with an interesting plastic flower in the foreground. This is a one-line summary of Griffith and Kent’s efforts, perhaps reflecting the possibility of connecting with the legendary artist across time.
But when reflecting on Van Gogh, this person, his art and his time, these interesting and useful works are positioned just right.
