On display right now at the Bonni Benrubi in New York, the French photographer Karine Laval continues her exploration of the elements. As in her previous series The Pool and Poolscapes, the focus here is water, water that is red like fire, an allusion to another element making its first appearance in her work. In the depths of this strange fluid we discern the movements of an androgynous dancer and a metallic film, Mylar, whose oscillations create reflections, distortions and enigmatic compositions. “In this new work, says Karine Laval, there is a reflection on the notion of surface. Not only the surface of the water and what it reflects and conceals in its depths at the same time, but also the surface and contour of the body, that of the Mylar material that evokes both the surface of the water and the skin, but also the surface of the photograph as an object. “The shiny surface of the Mylar becomes a kind of skin that mirrors the fluidity of the human flesh,” says Laval. “Once plunged into water, the inanimate object starts to react to the pressure and chemicals and bend into distorted sculptural shapes as if by magic. The resulting compositions collide at an intersection between violence and sensuality, underlining their ambiguous nature.”
Through this subjective perception, the viewer is immersed in a physical universe bordering anxiety. “There is a transcendent and ecstatic dimension that can turn into hell, the photographer continues. While working on this series, I had in mind the work of Francis Bacon, the surrealists and their experiments with dreams and desire, the avant-garde research on abstraction, some old religious paintings, but also Heidegger’s notion of human existence he describes as a process of perpetual fall. “As it is, the images of “Altered States” seem to work in a whole rather than each individually. Especially, in order to exploit their strength, they call for an accompanying soundtrack or an extra medium. This wish is satisfied since for the first time at Bonni Benrubi, a video installation escorts the photographs. A video with an enigmatic atmosphere, where the dancer – half man, half fish – waves in music; a video, whose content encourages escape. Here one seems to find again the still images displayed in the adjoining room in a work even more successful. Karine Laval, who’s been working with moving images for some time, seems predisposed to explore new forms of expression.
Jonas Cuénin
Read the full text on the French version of Le Journal.
Karine Laval: Altered States
April 18 – May 24, 2013
At Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street 13th Floor
New York
USA
