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Flash Art

Brand New

30 September 2015, 4:11 pm CET

George Henry Longly by Wendy Vogel

by Wendy Vogel September 30, 2015
"Untitled," (2010) Courtesy Chez Valentin, Paris.
"The Palace of Knossos," (2010) Courtesy Chez Valentin, Paris.
The Palace of Knossos (2010). Courtesy Chez Valentin, Paris.

Wendy Vogel: You included a Diptyque candle in the exhibition “Glaze” that you curated at Bischoff/Weiss, appropriating this understated “signifier of ubiquitous good taste” as both a curatorial statement and art object. Can you talk about the intersection of domestic design and minimalism in your work?

George Henry Longly: The show tried to use the artworks to cover the gallery space in a direct and sort of functional way. This approach to the surface and volume of the space aligns with a domestic approach to interiors.

I chose the Diptyque candle because it fills the room with a fragrance and it pitches the tone of the room. Someone referred to the candle as the smell of the collector’s apartment — or even the gallerist’s house, which is probably more precise. Within my group of friends the Diptyque brand has always been a huge joke, the most “lifestyle” of lifestyle brands. Then a good friend bought me one and I did the biggest u-turn on the product. Although it seems a tiny bit perverse to include the candle in the show, I think it worked. My sculptural work resides somewhere between domestic appliances and minimal artwork, hair salon furniture and simple form. I am interested in the exploration of domestic and industrial approaches to production. 

"Untitled," (2010) Courtesy Chez Valentin, Paris.
Untitled (2010). Courtesy Chez Valentin, Paris.

WV: You are also interested in questions of museology, theatrical staging and commercial display. How has this played out in your recent sculptures?

GHL: Like many artists before me and many of my contemporaries, museology and staging are a sticking point. It relates to the heritage of minimalism and conceptual art — the plinth and support structures for art and ideas. The commercial banners that I use are just another part of this, but are somehow more accessible. I use images in my work but I find it hard to generate imagery. My approach to art is more to do with standing a huge stone on its end and walking around it than depicting or capturing imagery. During the summer on a residency in Germany I did a lot of photographic work on the top of the Schloss where I was living. The location provided a backdrop that was stereotypically aspirational and sublime. I worked on the roof because I wanted to shoot in very bright sunlight and use the light to display and highlight the subject that I was working with — locally sourced, slightly colored spring water. The orange tint is its mineral content and therefore the source of its attributed properties. 

WV: Your two-way mirrors touch on minimalist design’s application in public, bureaucratic spaces.

GHL: The mirrors sit in a particular area of design — corporate aesthetics and decorative arts. The mirror is a complex material, in that you are able to see part of yourself and the space in it, and when the works are lit they are activated and become almost four-dimensional. I have used them to metaphorically address the support structure and the ideas that surround the artwork. Because the material is half there, it appears like a graphic sketch from the outside and a semi-visible distorted structure from the mirror side. It makes clear this situation of supporting objects — and the lifting up of ideas.

Wendy Vogel is a writer based in New York.

George Henry Longly was born in 1978 in Taunton, UK.  He lives and works in London and Margate.

Selected solo and two-person shows: 2012: Chez Valentin, Paris (with Nicolas Deshayes). 2011: Vidal Cuglietta, Brussels. 2009: Chez Valentin, Paris; Lüttgenmeijer, Berlin. 2008: Dicksmith, London. 2006: Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich (with Ryan Gander). Selected group shows: 2011: “Young London,” V22; “Rain,” CELL Project Space, London; “Glaze,” Bischoff/Weiss (curator), London.

 

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