Splinter Works
Galeria Leme is proud to present Richard Galpin's third solo exhibition at Galeria Leme. Having worked with the gallery since its conception, Galpin has nurtured strong links with Galeria Leme and with the city of Sao Paulo, and many of the works for the exhibition are produced from photographs of Sao Paulo.
The exhibition presents Galpin's large-scale 'Splinter' works alongside the artist's first stop-frame animation project.
In Galpin's dazzling new Splinter Works, the artist's familiar technique involving the surface removal of photographs is pushed to new levels of complexity and fracture. Shard-like splinters of photographic surface appear to explode or implode towards a central vortex. New perspectives are cut into the photographs that immerse the viewer in dynamic space and movement.
The fragmentation in Galpin's new works suggests a total transformation of the urban environment. In the manner of Constant's New Babylon project or Iakov Chernikov's Architectural Fantasies, these works are not tangible, buildable blueprints for the reworking of the city, but rather impressions of an entirely different kind of urban environment. Perhaps as Chernikov wrote of his own Architectural Fantasies, Galpin's works reflect the 'hidden desires' of their creator – both constructive and destructive.
In this exhibition Galpin also presents his first stop frame animation. In the work 'Blink', one hundred and fifty seven identical prints of the Sao Paulo sky line were individually cut and peeled using Galpin's usual technique. Each different composition in the sequence retains just a few small elements. This sequence forms the basis of a stop frame animation.
Richard Galpin has recently completed his first public commission for the High Line, New York – a new elevated park built on a former rail track. This year he also produced a commission for the New York Times, and his work is to be included in a forthcoming Rizzoli publication edited by Marla Hamburg Kennedy entitled New York: A Photo Graphers City. His work is currently on display in the photography galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He lives and works in London.
