Jeff Robb ‘Unnatural Causes 2’
Lenticular Photograph, 100 X 100cm, Edition of 9
81 Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LJ 0044 (0)207 233 8755 0044 (0)7590 527 332 www.maugermodern.com info@maugermodern.com
JEFF ROBB
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ 7 Lenticular Photographs 225 x 225 cm Edtion of 1 + 1 AP
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 1
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 2
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 3
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 4
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 5
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 6
‘THE UNNATURAL CAUSES’ Detail 7
‘UNNATURAL CAUSES 5’ Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 6
‘UNNATURAL CAUSES 8’ Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 6
‘UNNATURAL CAUSES 9’ Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 6
‘UNNATURAL CAUSES 10’ Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 6
‘AERIAL 1’
Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 9
‘AERIAL 2 ’
Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 9
‘AERIAL 4’
Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 9
‘AERIAL 5’
Lenticular Photograph 100 x 100 cm Edition of 9
‘SUPENSION’
Bronze Sculpture, Bell Jar 70 x 40 cm Edition of 1 + 1AP
MARTIN C. HERBST
‘LENA SPHERE’
Lena Sphere 10, Oil/Lacquer Steel Sphere Diameter 75 cm
‘LENA SPHERE’ Detail
‘LENA SPHERE’ Detail
‘LENTISSIMA 6’
Oil/Lacquer Steel Sphere Diameter 30 cm
‘LENA SPHERE’ Detail
BIOGRAPHY: JEFF ROBB
Jeffrey Robb (1965, Derbyshire, UK) trained at the Royal College of Art in London. Robb has always explored the illusion of a threedimensional image within the two dimensional space. First, he worked with holographic stereograms, transmission and reflection holograms and laser light installations. Today, he is best know for his series of lenticular prints such as Other sides and Aerial: moving images derived from painting, photography, computer graphics, film and video. Following the 19th century obsession with movement which led to the invention of cinema, Robb creates 3D moving images by means of lenticular photography, a hologram-like image that creates the illusion of depth and the possibility of seeing different sides of the image as we look from different angles. His work shows splashing, tossing and turning female nudes where the artifice is not concealed but embraced as Robb creates hybrid, robot-like creatures that come to life by the mere act of looking. The artist’s intention is to open a threshold that connects our physical world with a virtual one. Our everyday experience and perception of the world is altered as our eyes have the power to move and manipulate the constructed figures. His female bodies gravitate within the black box that contains them and are suspended between our real world and the virtuality of their existence; they are liminal bodies: neither sculpture nor photographs, neither matter nor ether. They fully come to existence in our brain, though an optical illusion. The spectator becomes Pygmalion: the Cypriot who could turn his perfect ivory female stattu into a flesh and bone woman by means of a kiss. Robbed from warmth and color, his female nudes correspond to today’s obsession with animated, cyber-like bodies which can be manipulated as our virtual alter egos. His work strives towards a controlled perfection which is far from voluptuous or human. It represents the paradox of 3D: closer to our senses but far from our flesh and bone. An artist avant la letre, Robb’s work can be fully appreciated today as a timely image. His work has earned the attention of collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London or the Getty in L.A.
BIOGRAPHY: MARTIN C. HERBST
Austrian artist, Martin C. Herbst (*1965), pushes the limits of traditional painting. Faces appear on concave dishes, curved plates or stainless steel spheres, offering arresting experiences to the viewer: the oil painted faces are distorted when applied onto curved panels, but look “normal” if viewed from alternate angles. Herbst’s paintings show a truly new approach to representation and are deeply based in the long tradition of painting. He focuses on an elaborate re-imagining of fine art’s historical themes and attends to theories of classical portraiture and human figure. His series of faces painted on stainless steel spheres are inspired by a famous painting of the Italian Mannerism, Parmigianino’s “Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror” (c.1524). The small painting on a curved wooden plate depicts Parmigianino sitting behind a table and is particularly famous for showing all the convex mirror’s distortions. Expanding Parmigianino’s idea, Herbst uses highly polished stainless steel spheres and paints a face on one half. The other half of the sphere remains unpainted and functions as a powerful distorting mirror. Part of the impact of these works is seeing the distortion of the painted face, but also that the expression of the face shifts when the sphere is turned. The reality of painting converges with the surreal, making the work appear animated and vivid. Martin C. Herbst has exhibited intensively around the globe, recent solo shows include Christopher Cutts Gallery Toronto; Mike Weiss Gallery NYC; Várfok Galéria Budapest; MITO, Barcelona. Fair participations include Art Basel Miami; Scope New York, Basel, Miami, Hamptons, London; Korea Art Fair: Contemporary Istambul; Art Chicago; Los Angeles Art Show, Artbo, Bogota; Show off, Paris; Art Brussels; ArteBa, Buenos Aires and others.
81 Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LJ 0044 (0)207 233 8755 0044 (0)7590 527 332