25 January 2012
Artist Book: Ori Gersht
Ori Gersht
Our latest publication is ready to order now in two special formats: a boxed set of three hardback and one softback volumes and a Collector's set that also includes two signed and numbered prints.
Artist Book: Ori Gersht is conceived by the artist as a piece of work in its own right, composed of three volumes, each taking a separate Gersht film work as its subject; Evaders, Will You Dance For Me and Offering.
All three film works disguise dark and complex themes beneath seductive or hypnotic imagery. Will You Dance For Me depicts an 85-year-old dancer swaying back and forth in a rocking chair, slowly recounting her experiences as a young woman in Auschwitz. Evaders explores Walter Bernjamin's ill fated escape from Nazi occupied France along the mountainous Lister Route. Offering presents a contemporary matador preparing for a bullfight and an expectant audience.
These small and intimate books reflect on the creative thought process behind the making of each film. Together they create a seamless visual narrative and an insight into the mind of the artist. Each volume combines sources that have influenced Gersht including film stills, screen grabs, music videos and art historical paintings. From page to page they combine with Gersht’s own drawings, sketches, photographs and works from his wider portfolio that he considers relevant to these final film works.
All of the images, original, found and sourced are treated equally and have been edited into sequences by the artist. The relationships between the images are not intended to be didactic but attempt to create a new experience from Gersht’s ideas and to contextualize his working process.
Robert Rowland Smith, author of the Kindle number one bestseller Breakfast with Socrates, has written the accompanying softback text Gersht's Ghosts. The essay explores the themes of all three works and makes connections between the sourced, found and comparative images.
Published by Photoworks, Edited by Celia Davies, Designed by SMITH, Printed by EBS,
ISBN 978-1-903796-474
Boxed set £40
Foil embossed Effalin slipcover
3 x 73 page, 4 colour, hardback
1 x 24 page softback
each 150 x 135mm landscape format
Collector's Set £250 (edition of 150)
Foil embossed Effalin presentation box
3 x 73 page, 4 colour, signed hardback
1 x 24 page softback
each 150x135mm landscape format
2 x 160x210mm signed and numbered Archival pigment prints on Hahnemuhle, Photo Rag Pearl paper
Artist Book: Ori Gersht has been supported by:
UCA University for the Creative Arts
Mummery+Schnelle, London
Noga Gallery of Contemporarty Art, Tel Aviv
Angles Gallery, Los Angeles
CRG Gallery, New York
Brand New Gallery, Milan
Reviews:
"Exquistely produced"
"A lovely object. Understated, Intimate and delicately made. We are seduced before first turning the page."
"Artist Book has the same level of careful thought and impeccable production as all of Gersht’s works...
They offer one a glimpse into the complex world behind his quiet and sublime images and film sequences, allowing one to connect them with the history of art, photography and film"
"Gersht presents us with self-consciously sublime imagery, while reminding us that the sublimity has come at a cost."
"Dignity and sorrow make for a powerful exhibition that answers the military hardware in the Imperial War Museum with flowers and snowflakes."
The Guardian, Guardian Exhibition of the Week
"A stunning overview of Gersht's recent work"
British Journal of Photography
"it’s fantastic. It’s nuanced, it’s heartfelt, it’s even critical in places of the protagonists, it gives an insight into what war does to peoples lives that a 15ft decommissioned naval gun never can."
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