Jeepers creepers! Ronchini Gallery in London opens the year with ‘The Uncanny’, where curator James Putman tapped emerging artists Adeline de Monseignat and Berndnaut Smilde for the spine-tingling, hair-raising exhibition.
The artists, based in London and Amsterdam respectively, turned to Sigmund Freud’s seminal essay of the same name for inspiration. The enfant terrible of psychoanalysis pioneered the uncanny as a conflicting sense of familiarity and foreignness felt at the same time. To that end, the Dutch artists have quite appropriately taken wildly differing approaches in their examination of the Freudian concept.
De Monseignat’s works with tactile, organic materials like fur to create installations that explore the illusive fugue between life and death. Her vexing ‘creaptures’ (creatures-cum-sculptures) encased in flawless glass orbs are seemingly trapped in limbo at first. Upon an admittedly trepid approach to the objects for closer inspection, it becomes apparent they subtly expand and contract, in an eerie manner that alludes to a slow, dying breath.
Smilde centers his practice on the ephemeral and is known for his otherworldly photographs of ‘real’ clouds theatrically suspended in grand, empty rooms. What is notably unique to this show however, is his interesting application of aerogel over architectural models. Also known as frozen smoke, it consists of 99.8% air and is the lightest solid material on earth.
While undisputedly striking in their subject matter and glossy execution, the artworks ultimately failed to contribute anything new to the Surrealist vocabulary. These young guns have a promising future ahead, but for now the show provoked a sense of unease as fleeting as Smilde’s clouds.
The artists turned to Sigmund Freud seminal namesake essay for inspiration which explores the concept of a jarring sense of strange familiarity
'Nimbus Cukurcuma Hamam II', by Berndnaut Smilde, 2012
'Nimbus Munnekeholm', by Berndnaut Smilde, 2012
'Hairy Eye Ball', by Adeline de Monseignat, 2011
'Tantal Eyes', by Adeline de Monseignat, 2012
'Traces of Life III', by Adeline de Monseignat, 2011
'Nimbus NP3', by Berndnaut Smilde, 2012
'Nimbus Platform57', by Berndnaut Smilde, 2012
'Nimbus D'Aspremont', by Berndnaut Smilde, 2012
De Monseignat’s works with tactile, organic materials like fur to create her ‘creaptures’ while Smilde uses a fog machine to create temporary clouds in empty
Also on show were De Monseignat's eerie sculptural interprations of newborns (far left). Made of glass, she coats them in mirroring chemicals, basing their size and form on data submitted to her by real-life mothers of their babies
ADDRESS
22 Dering Street
London W1S 1AN
-
Tokyo Auto Salon 2025: custom cars and one-off creations from the Japanese home marketWhat began as a celebration of Japan's custom car culture is a now a major event for many of the country's biggest automakers. We round up the news from Tokyo Auto Salon 2025
-
Lunar New Year in London: where to celebrate the Year of the Wood SnakeDo you want a year of good fortune and happiness? Then it is time to tuck into some of London’s cult favourite hotspots, devour decadent treats, and toast the Lunar New Year, and we have you covered with our guide to all things going on in the city (from 29 January until 8 February 2025)
-
Remembering Oliviero Toscani, fashion photographer and author of provocative Benetton campaignsBest known for the controversial adverts he shot for the Italian fashion brand, former art director Oliviero Toscani has died, aged 82
