Introduction

Esther Schipper is pleased to present Gabriel Kuri in his second gallery solo show carbon index compost copy.

carbon index compost copy is the expression of an associative mental process of pinpointing links between materials and themes, which has been specially adapted to the gallery space. The process becomes immediately apparent as the visitor enters the first room. The evolutionary stages of the same objects in succession are rolled out across two groups of works. Here six sculptures with white marble slabs are assembled into various constructivist configurations. The slabs are arranged successively behind one another, with bank notes inserted in the gaps to mark each form-finding process based on an act of appropriation of wall space, and the exploration of architectural context, until then eventually the sculptures are removed from the wall and find their independent position in space.

A second group of works consists of two series of towel dispensers with volcanic rock arranged underneath. Whilst the dispensers are an industrial product, the rock embodies raw primeval nature. Some rocks have been worked into containers, but traces and incisions left by the mason’s tools on their surface are an indication of the brute force that needed to be applied in the creative process which defies industrial methods. Beyond the apparent contrast Kuri sets up an intimate and varied relationship between the archaic volcanic rock and the polished finesse of the towel dispensers. Just as with the marble sculptures, an ephemeral material such as paper has been added to complement the sheer solidity of the other materials, and is seen here suspended in many colours from the dispensers’ mouths. Bank notes, just like sheets of paper towel, indicate utilitarian aspects as well as referring to the temporal nature of consumption and economic barter.

Whereas the first room is filled with a dense array of sculpture, in the second room only two pieces are presented: Inverted Lightbox 2 and 3. The centrepiece is made up of Inverted Lightbox 2, a copying machine covered in tar roofing sheets; Inverted Lightbox 3 consists of an illuminated shop window display box suspended on a wall facing a large mullioned window, and filled with various papers and other flat objects. The sequential title challenges the visitor to fill in the numbers gap, and make his own association between the various sources of light such as illuminated box, copier and window. In the same manner as the impression of the marble sculptures depended on procedural imagination Gabriel Kuri here mangles natural light from the window, shaded light from the copier and artificial illumination from the walled display.

In carbon index compost copy Gabriel Kuri fuses formal and material aspects in a dichotomy of physical shape, object nature, and reduction. The work incorporates a complex combination of minimalist formal language and veiled biographical reference into a very personal and often poetic discourse. Contemporary references of mundane applications, casually dispersed among the work, such as bank notes, plastic bags, official queuing tickets link his timeless objects to the contemporary universe as well as creating a critical reference to current value systems.