Review
Josh Sperling. Head Over Heels
April 21 – May 24, 2023
Perrotin, Paris Marais
Interesting, rather quiet.
Entering the first room of Josh Sperling’s exhibition at Perrotin, Paris Marais, one encounters a clean installation of six large-scale monochrome canvasses. The works seem at the same time essentially natural, yet crafted and artificial. The artist employs wooden stretches to create unfamiliar shapes with canvas. The materials are abstracted, the objects resemble air cushions from far away, or elements of a bicycle chain. One feels the care in the crafting.
The works are meditative, like mandalas or maze gardens. Through guided confusion leading to the center. The eye follows the shapes, like balls in a marble game. The blessing of rhythm.
The calm, cleansing colours emphasize a feeling of nature. One might ask which feeling of nature is presented, imitated, sought for here? A lost one perhaps; or a model of nature in the 21st century, combining natural arts and human craft. #palewoodandrawcanvas
Throughout the exhibition one perceives a subtle smell, presumably yew or mountain pine. Upon preference, it adds a natural aura, or a feel-good marketing environment.
The third room introduces colour play. The tie-died patterns resemble remnants of a Holi festival. Self-confident and stately, sleek yet tongue-in-cheek.
In room four, the works become futuristic. The yellow, pink, and green of the canvasses carry a metallic touch. It’s illusion though. The shapes relate to space constructions, light-speed immersion or extra-terrestrial apparition. The frames are smaller but keeping the rhythm. It is a closed one, however, no entrance [exit] available; the eye repeats a circle.
The second floor presents a completely different outlook. The works resemble outdoor games, puzzles, or geometric exercises. The works in room seven unfold like flowers creating an endless optical ring dance. Room five are visual waterplays; room eight Shostakovich capriccios. It’s waves and water, flower and flow, rhythm and rise. Form and fun. Head Over Heels: A contemporary climax, subtly structured.
The exhibition text, sadly, reads as an advertising. The pompous words and phrases – “For Josh Sperling, painting is not just a matter of dipping a brush into color and applying it to a ground.”[1] – aim at making us understand the greatness of the artist and the complexity of his work. The subtly great, greatly subtle works would not have needed this tacky gesture, they speak for themselves.
[1] As if it was for any true painter. https://leaflet.perrotin.com/view/500/head-over-heels