Seen last Friday at Gregor Podnar in Berlin; Ariel Schlesinger’s solo show called ‘Reverse engineering’. Although not many works and not all of them as good; a nice show, with quite some energy!

From the gallery’s exhibition text:

“In the sculptures shown here, Ariel Schlesinger applies techniques inspired by the reverse engineering process – by tapping into the process of their creation, he investigates hidden possibilities trapped in devices.”

‘A car full of gas’ (2009)

In the first work, two large gastanks sitting side by side in a brand new Mini Cooper breathe gas into the car. A small flame comes out of a hole drilled in the car’s passenger window.

‘A car full of gas’ (detail) (2009)

I’d never thought burning a flame from its window was one of the Cooper’s hidden possibilities, but I think the work’s best part is that it’s subtle, but also quite dangerous-looking. Ofcourse it’s quite a muscle work, but the humour and the energy that comes from it make up for this fact.

‘The sound two empty spaces make when they meet’ (2009)

‘The sound two empty spaces make when they meet’ (detail) (2009)

Untitled (pair) (2010)

A glass mug filled with water cramped into a paper cup makes for one of the two best works in the show.

Untitled (pair) (2010)

‘Oil lamp’ (2010)

The flame coming from the handmade lighter in ‘Oil lamp’ becomes a bit of a boring example of one of the many ways in which the idea can be given a form. You can see flames coming from a lot of Schlesinger’s works…

Untitled (socks holder) #3, #5, #9 and #10 (2009)

And the socks-turned-neckties are actually a bit too corny to become more than a little joke.

Untitled (socks holder) #5 (2009)

The exit.

Related:

Pierre Ardouvin Ariel Schlesinger Herman van Ingelgem Oskar Dawicki