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Lot Essay
Derived from an iconic series of photographs taken by German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, Idris Khan's ethereal, impressionistic images are skillfully formed by dense digital layering. The stark industrial architecture that are the focus of the Becher's photographs have been animated by Khans transformation, without losing the nostalgic symbolism that was at the heart of the Bechers' fascination for their subject.
Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Prison Type Gasholders, Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Spherical Type Gasholders and Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Gable Side Houses were executed at the early stages of Khans investigations into the Bechers' work. Khan divided the hundreds of shots that the duo took during their travels around the industrial heartlands of post-war Germany into three groups according to their 'typology': gable side houses, prison type gasholders and spherical type gasholders. He then meticulously adjusted the opacity and contrast of each photograph, before working them into their present form. The resulting pictures, which seem to mediate between a drawing, a film still, and a photograph, reflect the clarity and uniformity of a structural drawing, while simultaneously evoking poetic mutability. The triptych emphasises the idea of disappearing architectural language and the continual advance of technology that was central to the Bechers' artistic enquiry. Khan has appropriated and reinvented these fascinating images into a subtle and entrancing meditation on authorship and the passage of time.
Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Prison Type Gasholders, Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Spherical Type Gasholders and Every... Bernd and Hilla Becher Gable Side Houses were executed at the early stages of Khans investigations into the Bechers' work. Khan divided the hundreds of shots that the duo took during their travels around the industrial heartlands of post-war Germany into three groups according to their 'typology': gable side houses, prison type gasholders and spherical type gasholders. He then meticulously adjusted the opacity and contrast of each photograph, before working them into their present form. The resulting pictures, which seem to mediate between a drawing, a film still, and a photograph, reflect the clarity and uniformity of a structural drawing, while simultaneously evoking poetic mutability. The triptych emphasises the idea of disappearing architectural language and the continual advance of technology that was central to the Bechers' artistic enquiry. Khan has appropriated and reinvented these fascinating images into a subtle and entrancing meditation on authorship and the passage of time.