'Black Square' exhibition by Wallpaper* guest editor Taryn Simon, Athens

Taryn Simon's next exhibition, Black Square, opens at the Gagosian on 25 September. Pictured, from the series, is: 'Black Square XI, Blue and Gold Macaw, "Amiga", suffering from feather destructive disorder, 2012' (c) Taryn Simon.
(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Taryn Simon's last show, 'A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII', opened at Moma in New York and travelled on to Tate Modern via Moca in LA. It was a tour that established Simon - one of the guest editors in our October issue - as a first rank art star, a photographer who uses text, image and graphic design, narrative and intervention and asks questions of all of them. Simon matches meticulous composition with a master documentary maker's tenacity and ability to ask big questions through human-scale stories. Her pictures of obscure and obscured objects in 'An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar' meanwhile map a new post-9/11 America.

Her next show at the Gagosian Gallery in Athens - previewed above, alongside some of her seminal works - is a series of photographs taken over the last six years using the same frame size as Malevich's end-of-something-beginning-of-something else 'Black Square' of 1915.

Moving on from an American Index, Simon again shoots obscure objects of wider significance, this time against a deep black background. Subjects include an artificial heart; a human skin wallet; genetically modified mosquitos; a South African flame-throwing anti-hijaking system fitted on a Toyota Corolla; and a captive parrot with stress-related feather loss.
Meanwhile, as a Wallpaper* guest editor, she presents two new projects in our October issue that explore how the photographic image is classified and catalogued in a digital realm.

Kazimir Malevich's 1915 Suprematist masterpiece.

Simon has photographed disorienting subjects, each highlighting a specific cultural complexity, collapse or ambiguity within the exact frame size as Kazimir Malevich's 1915 Suprematist masterpiece. Pictured is: 'Black Square IV, The Blaster, South Africa, Invented by Charl Fourie as an Anti-Hijacking system photographed installed on a Toyota Corolla, one of the most frequently carjacked vehicles in South Africa, 2009'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Black Square IX, Genetically engineered male mosquitoes

'Black Square IX, Genetically engineered male mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti, 2012'
(c) Taryn Simon

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Human Skin Wallet, 2011

'Black Square III, Human Skin Wallet, 2011'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Artificial Heart, 2009

'Black Square II, Artificial Heart, 2009'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

A Living Man Declared Dead

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'Chapter XI, A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII, 2011'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Cigarettes & Tobacco (abandoned/illegal/prohibited)

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'Cigarettes & Tobacco (abandoned/illegal/prohibited), 2010'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

OCA (prohibited)

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'OCA (prohibited), 2010'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

White Tiger (Kenny)

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 2006/2007'
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Hymenoplasty Cosmetic Surgery

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'Hymenoplasty Cosmetic Surgery, PA Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2005/2007'
(c) Taryn Simon

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Larry Mayes, scene of arrest, the Royal Inn, Gary, Indiana, 2002

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'Larry Mayes, scene of arrest, the Royal Inn, Gary, Indiana, 2002'. Police found Mayes hiding beneath a mattress in this room. He served 18.5 years of an 80-year sentence for rape, robbery and unlawful deviate conduct

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

Charles Irvin Fain, scene of the crime, the Snake River, Melba, Idaho, 2002'

From Taryn Simon's archives: 'Charles Irvin Fain, scene of the crime, the Snake River, Melba, Idaho, 2002'. Fain served 18 years of a death sentence for kidnapping, rape and murder
(c) Taryn Simon.

(Image credit: Gagosian Gallery)

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