Fact or fiction? That’s the main question posed by a curious new exhibition of contemporary photography at the Zabludowicz Collection in London. On view until 9 July, ‘You Are Looking At Something That Never Occurred’ draws from the gallery’s archive to present seminal works by 14 artists who use the camera to test the parameters between past and present, authenticity and artifice.
The timing is apt. Today, as the instant image becomes so familiar it verges on mundane, the show provides a considered meditation on the innovative ‘slow’ methods of picture-making that artists such as Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Lucas Blalock and Thomas Ruff have employed to engage, mystify and surprise us.
Techniques – some analogue, others digital – vary dramatically throughout. For example, Sherman’s ground-breaking Untitled Film Still #41 (1979), which opens the show and depicts a staged set-up of the artist as a glamorous actress in a striped bathing suit, displays a grainy texture, achieved by accident when the top came off the can of film she was developing. While Lucas Blalock, who has several riveting works on display (see: Gaba with Fans, 2012) has developed a unique process that fuses analogue photography, collage and Photoshop.
‘Truth Study Centre Table XVIII’, by Wolfgang Tillmans
High notes include the UK premiere of Soft Film (2016), a 16mm film shot on video by young New York-based talent Sara Cwynar. Combining found footage with items found on eBay, a pastel-hued studio set-up and fragments of text, the artist explores how objects of desire can lose or gain attraction over time. ‘Her work is a fascinating reflection on the powerful remnants of the photographic process,’ reflects the exhibition’s curator Paul Luckraft. ‘I admire her sensitive attention to the life of images and objects over time.’
The way in which Anne Collier skilfully re-photographs existing images of American pop culture from the 1960s, 70s and 80s using a large-format plate camera is similarly intriguing. It’s as easy to lose yourself in her large-scale Positive (California) (2016), as it is decoding the hidden poems of Natalie Czech that are hung on the adjacent wall.
Yet, however diverse, all of these works demand a closer look. They urge the viewer to slow down, take stock and re-evaluate their certainty – a valuable quality in this day and age.
Portraits by Thomas Ruff.
NM in stripes, by Lucas Blalock, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and Ramiken Crucible, New York
Still Creek Vancouver Winter 2003, by Jeff Wall, 2003.
From left, Corinthian Column (Plastic Cups), 2014; Islamic Dome (Plastic Cups), 2014; and Women, 2015, all by Sara Cwynar; and Four Women Looking in the Same Direction, by Richard Prince.
Corinthian Column (Plastic Cups), by Sara Cwynar, 2014
From left, Tree on Keystone, 2011; Gaba with Fans, 2012; untitled study, 2011; and xxxxxxx, 2011, all by Lucas Blalock.
Soft Film, by Sara Cwynar, 2016.
Four Women Looking in the Same Direction; and Untitled (Cowboy), both by Richard Prince.
A hidden poem by Robert Lax, by Natalie Czech, 2010
From left, Woman (Daybed), 2014; Women (055, 065), 2012; Sculpture (Zebrawood), 2010; and Egyptian Mau, 2010, all by Elad Lassry.
Installation view of ‘You Are Looking at Something That Never Occurred’, a group photography exhibition at the Zabludowicz Collection in London.
Three hidden poems by Velimir Khlebnikov, 2011, by Natalie Czech
INFORMATION
‘You Are Looking At Something That Never Occurred’ is on view until 9 July. For more information, visit the Zabludowicz Collection website
ADDRESS
Zabludowicz Collection
176 Prince of Wales Rd
London NW5 3PT
-
Rediscover a classic midcentury hotel in SydneyFender Katsalidis leads a major renovation of the landmark Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, pairing 1960s modernism with an elevated, Australian-minded reset
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heartThe dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
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)
-
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
-
Alice Adams, Louise Bourgeois, and Eva Hesse delve into art’s ‘uckiness’ at The CourtauldNew exhibition ‘Abstract Erotic’ (until 14 September 2025) sees artists experiment with the grotesque
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintingsThe artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi YatesLondon has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
