Trophies: A Contemporary Exploration

About

In conjunction with Frieze Masters, Jonathan F. Kugel is pleased to announce its forthcoming exhibition, 'Trophies', exploring the symbol of the trophy as a physical representation of achievement . Featuring works by emerging contemporary artists James Webster, Dan Glasser and Juliette Seydoux, the exhibition is theatrically set amongst rare period atlases, maps and books. For 'Trophies', Webster presents seven animal skulls crafted in porcelain, the product of a year's isolation in rural Suffolk. The life-size skulls, comprised of numerous individual bones and neck vertebrae, are meticulously sculpted by hand before being pieced together and mounted on top of a steel plinth. The idea of the trophy has interested Webster from his early years to the present day. Through decades of collecting, inspired by the pursuit of beauty and the elusive anatomically perfect form, Webster has gathered a large collection of real life vanitas. The sense of achievement Webster felt in discovering objects of such immense natural beauty led him to not only want to protect them, but to present them. He wished to communicate what they meant to him and share his sense of achievement in a physical form. The conclusion of Webster's pursuit of beauty are these seven sculptures, they complete his collection. Seydoux's illustrations of insects, human faces and other surrealist representations are intricately drawn with ink in the manner of a surgeon dissecting a corpse. Her drawings are haunted by details and seek to recreate the interior landscape of her subjects. Glasser's photographic series consists of eccentric individual objects, such as taxidermic animals, white peacocks or marble busts, photographed up close in a perspex box on a white background. The photographs are printed so that objects appear life-size on a translucent film before being presented on wall mounted light boxes. Using a style similar to the product photography we are so familiar with seeing in our everyday lives, Glasser transforms objects into subjects, isolating them in white space and completely immersing them in light. This method provides a sense of depth that allows the subject and its design to be projected clearly as if the object itself were inside the box. Please contact alex@jfkugel.com for more information.