Whether built, natural, social or conceptual, personal backgrounds contribute to an understanding of individuality. A selection of exhibitions opening this weekend are tied to a sense of place, chronicling, questioning and redefining the environments key to each artist’s development.
Post-Soviet Visions: image and identity in the new Eastern Europe, Calvert 22 Foundation, London
By highlighting work by emerging artists from Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, this show offers fresh perspectives on the lifestyle and landscape of the New East. The images featured acknowledge traces of the past whilst working together to forge new identities. Until 15 April. Find out more here.
Kevin Cooley: Still Burning, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles
Influenced by the recent La Tuna Canyon Fire that almost destroyed the practitioner’s home, studio and archive, Still Burning is a personal yet strikingly radical contribution to Cooley’s oeuvre, which investigates the physical and metaphorical qualities of fire. The show comprises images, video and a social media project, each examining timely environmental and political themes such as climate change and the 2016 election. Until 7 April. Find out more here .
Denis Dailleux: Égypte / Mères et Fils, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt
Dailleux’s body of work draws a profound portrait of Cairo, making use of a subtle colour palette. The images investigate the personal lives of families in the region; Mother and Son is a particularly moving work which offers a unique and tender view of an intimate yet universally touching subject. Until 28 March. Find out more here.
Déjà vu, Kehrer Galerie, Berlin
Thibault Brunet (b. 1982) and Isabelle Le Minh (b. 1965) investigate notions of collective visual culture through manipulation. Brunet uses 3D scanning technologies and satellite imagery to model uncanny isolated structures in suburbia, whilst Le Minh explores the formal history of the medium by refiguring iconic compositions by Bernd and Hilla Becher. Until 14 April. Find out more here.
Ladywood Fenian, Argentea Gallery, Birmingham
This exhibition comprises three established series by photographer Stephen J. Morgan, who is known for documenting urban spaces. The evocative compilation documents the locations and objects that defined the artist’s formative years, providing an individual and meaningful insight into life as a second-generation Irish child growing up in Birmingham. Until 24 March. Find out more here.
Credits:
1. Image by Jędrzej Franek
2. From Still Burning, Kevin Cooley, courtesy Kopeikin Galley
3. Denis Dailleux, «Un uomo guarda il Mar Rosso», Egitto, El Qusier, 2003. © Denis Dailleux / Agence VU’
4. Thibault Brunet, Typologie du virtuel. Courtesy Galerie Binôme.
5. Where my grandfather drunk #1, Stephen J. Morgan, 2002.
