Engaging with Chris Rhodes’ images means finding romance in the mundanity performed by his subjects: sometimes a faded floral lampshade, elsewhere a dirty gold letterbox. Frequently enveloped in natural sunlight and typically modest in composition, this found beauty exists in contrast to the photographer’s initial introduction to the medium, which he summarises as being mostly about the mechanics – ‘the technologic process, the idea of freezing a moment that could not be captured by the eye’ – than anything specifically artistic.
Informed early on by the work of Joel Sternfeld and Simone Nieweg, it was a similarly pragmatic approach that saw him switching from larger formats to 35mm, a move which subsequently shaped the aesthetic that won over fans like including fashion heavyweights Gucci and Helmut Lang. Away from a coveted client list, it’s his personal work – much of it shot across the globe while on assignment for said list – that has amplified his production and led to Hotel Mermaid Club: his debut imprint published by RVB Books, and a correlating show at Webber Gallery, now open until 20 December.
The move to a more lightweight apparatus (on which much of the project was shot), he explains, allowed ‘me to see differently. The camera became a purpose on my short term explorations. It wasn’t a conscious decision or something that I deliberated on. It’s completely impulsive and instinctive.’ This machinery’s attributes are mirrored in the more concrete characteristics of his operation too, as he tells Wallpaper*, ‘I wouldn’t say the creation of photography in terms of image making is overly consuming. I work very freely. Over the years I have taken trips purely to make work, however I was never fully satisfied with these images. I used to take photographs every day, even when I didn’t feel like taking photographs, but over time I have learnt to only photograph when I feel the need.’
If Hotel Mermaid Club looks familiar, it’s because the book has been in the making for several years, while an earlier public showing of the work took place at Webber in 2017, comprising 15 photographs (today’s edition nears 55). ‘The original show was more of a testing ground, and ultimately led to the completion of the book,’ Rhodes explains. ‘Hotel Mermaid Club was a working title – from a building sign in Tokyo. When I was reviewing the images the bizarre translation felt absurd, almost like a state of being. It became more relevant when I started to sequence the project.’ Invariably in a Hotel Mermaid Club frame of mind, a second volume is apparently already near to being completed.
INFORMATION
Hotel Mermaid Club, €38, published by RVB Books. webberrepresents.com
ADDRESS
Webber Gallery
18 Newman Street
London W1T 1PE
-
Jeweller Ara Vartanian and rapper Swizz Beatz team up on a fusion of spiky silhouettes, sculptural forms and seductive gemsA pairing that's been in the works since 2019 – and finally we get to see the results
-
The new CLA brings Mercedes's all-electric know-how to a new market sectorMixing high tech moves with tremendous tactile qualities, the buttery smooth new Mercedes-Benz CLA is an electric winner. Wallpaper* drives across Denmark in a triumphant new car with a three-pointed star
-
Collagerie and Zara Home debut perfectly imperfect furniture and accessoriesLucinda Chambers’ Collagerie collaborates with Zara Home on a collection that is an ode to the everyday
-
Shop the gloriously mad inner workings of Gary Card’s brain in London’s SohoSet designer and artist Gary Card has taken over London's Plaster Store – expect chaos and some really good accessories
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of societyA new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
-
How to be butch: Clark Henley’s sharp, satirical and playful manual is back in printThe 1982 classic, ‘The Butch Manual: The Current Drag and How to Do It’, full of tongue-in-cheek advice, is available once again
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
We are all fetishists, says Anastasiia Fedorova in her new book, which takes a deep dive into kinkIn ‘Second Skin’, writer and curator Fedorova takes a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics we have fetishised
-
A bespoke 40m mixed-media dragon is the centrepiece of Glastonbury’s new chill-out areaNew for 2025 is Dragon's Tail – a space to offer some calm within Glastonbury’s late-night area with artwork by Edgar Phillips at its heart
-
Emerging artist Kasia Wozniak’s traditional photography techniques make for ethereal imagesWozniak’s photographs, taken with a 19th-century Gandolfi camera, are currently on show at Incubator, London
-
Vincent Van Gogh and Anselm Kiefer are in rich and intimate dialogue at the Royal Academy of ArtsGerman artist Anselm Kiefer has paid tribute to Van Gogh throughout his career. When their work is viewed together, a rich relationship is revealed
