Designs ‘suspended between mimicry and fiction’

The group exhibition is, according to South London Gallery hosting the show, an exploration into the idea of the ‘backstage’, showing works that look at notions of artifice and illusion.

South London Gallery says, ‘Last Seen Entering the Biltmore considers experiences mediated through thresholds such as the TV monitor, cinema screen, theatre curtain, and stage, as well as sets and props – objects suspended between rehearsal and ritual, mimicry and fiction’.

A series of gorgeous posters have been created for the exhibition by Allison Katz, who focuses on how the post-digital age has informed graphic design. Her posters are united in a cut-and-paste aesthetic, playing with pattern, perspective and shadows to reference the idea of a world inhabited by multiple monitors and screens.

Another highlight is the work of Barbara Bloom. Her previous projects have seen her redesign all of Nabokow’s book covers.

Show curator Anna Gritz says, ‘Barbara Blooms work looks at the space behind art works, designs, plays and films, flattening 3D images. Often her works speaks to the idea of collecting’.

Elsewhere, Guy De Cointet has created text works based on systems of encoding or abstracting text.

There’s a nod to architecture in the work of film artist Richard Healy, who has created a moving-image piece that gives a ‘virtual walk’ through a house designed by modernist architect Horace Gifford.  

‘[Healy’s] technique is hugely depending on design aesthetics and digital animation reminiscent of the virtual spaces in architectural planning and sketch up documents’, explains Gritz.

Other artists featured in the show include Richard Artschwager, Nan Hoover, William Leavitt,  Darius Mikšys and Ola Vasiljeva.

Last Seen Entering the Biltmore runs from 26 June – 14 September at South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH. For more information visit www.southlondongallery.org