(Stockholm, Sweden)
Opening on May 13, Galleri Flach presents The star, the architect and the phantom, an installation in three parts by Laercio Redondo in collaboration with Birger Lipinski. In the exhibition, which is their first joint gallery presentation in Sweden, we encounter works of art that in various forms connect to some of the great cultural-historical icons of the 20th century and to a period we generally refer to as modernism, even if it would be more correct to speak of modernisms. In the show, the singer and actress Joséphine Baker (1906-1975), the architect Adolf Loos (1870-1933), and the Swedish art historian Gregor Paulsson (1889-1977) are woven together in an intricate web of visual references that captures their aesthetic, political, and social impact on the multifaceted history of modernism.
In the exhibition’s first room, there are three mobile sculptures and a series of paintings that originate in Josephine Baker’s strong luminosity and persona. As an African American woman, she made a staggering career as a stage performer in the early 20th century in France and Europe, eventually becoming a major international star. In the free-hanging sculptures there are objects associated with details and fragments from Baker’s career and stage persona. The mobiles are part of a larger artistic process and long-term investigation in which Redondo interprets well-known cultural figures as abstract portraits in sculptural form. In the slender mobiles there is a lightness and playfulness that is contrasted by the series of abstract grey-black paintings displayed in the same room. The geometric motifs link to one of Baker’s admirers, the architect Adolf Loos, and his drawings for the never-built “Baker House”. This fascinating building was conceived as a corner house in Paris and was intended to be covered by horizontal lines in black and white marble. According to Loos himself, it was one of the best plans he had ever drawn. The facade of the building was associated with Baker’s stage dresses as well as her ability as an African American woman to gain recognition in a white society. Today, several theorists problematize Loos’s perspective and the project he created for Baker. Redondo’s black and gray paintings integrate all hours of the day, reflecting the ultra-modern language of the facade and the building.
In the exhibition’s third work, “Phantom”, the artists turn to Sweden and functionalist modernity as expressed through Gregor Paulson’s winged motto: More Beautiful Everyday Objects. In the interior of the gallery, there are shelves with glass and ceramic objects in different shapes, of different quality and of different origins. They were once produced with the aim of being accessible for all people in a beautiful, stylish, and supposedly democratic design. What do we see in these objects today, a bygone era, a mythical ideal? In the beautifully staged installation, glass and light break into each other in a playful jumble that mixes historical, political, and contemporary references. “The Phantom” is a version of “The Phantom Collection” that was shown at Södertälje Konsthall in 2021, curated by Joanna Sandell.
Laercio Redondo and Birger Lipinski have for a long time worked together with different angles on historical events that revolve around collective memory and its erasure in society. Drawing on their respective knowledges, they have created installations and exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world based on the specific conditions of the place and the architecture.
Detail from the sculpture/mobile ”Joséphine”, 2023
“The star, the architect and the phantom”, Laercio Redondo in collaboration with Birger Lipinski
Opening Saturday May 13, 2-6pm
From May 13 until June 17, 2023
Galleri Flach
Karlavägen 9, 114 24 Stockholm, Sweden
Tue – Fri, 12-6pm; Sat 12-4pm
Phone: +46(0)707501670 // +46(0)707319917
info[at]galleriflach.com