Ian Monroe's collages on aluminium are iconic architectures that do not exist in reality. Monroe investigates the nature of idealised interior spaces and hyper-real environments. Emma Stibbon's black and white chalk drawings and woodcuts deliberately change scales and proportions of objects.
Ian Monroe - Emma Stibbon
Upstairs berlin opens with Utopian Architecture its first exhibition in collaboration with international galleries in its location on Zimmerstrasse 90/91 with works by Ian Monroe (Haunch of Venison, London ) and Emma Stibbon ( Jill George Gallery , London ). Whether it is collages, drawings or woodcuts, for both these artists architecture is utopian; and a utopia expresses itself above all in architecture. The fact that their images are more or less bereft of inhabitants, re-affirms the importance Ian Monroe and Emma Stibbon place on the utopian dimension of their pure architectures.
Ian Monroe’s (born 1972) utopian collages on aluminium are beautiful, yet anonymous looking designs without any human life. These iconic architectures do not exist in reality. Monroe investigates the nature of idealised interior spaces and hyper-real environments. His materials – sticky plastic and shiny contact paper in bright colours – reflect these interiors with their luxurious surfaces.
Emma Stibbon’s (born 1962) black and white chalk drawings and woodcuts of bold and dramatic sites of the city of Berlin stand in stark contrast to Ian Monroe’s colourful flashy collages. Where Monroe ’s interiors persist in an idealised realm, Stibbon’s exteriors are based on photographs of real architecture. She modifies them into a mirrored view from reality, deliberately changing scales and proportions of objects.
A fully illustrated catalogue is published on the occasion of this exhibition.
For further information and photos please contact Stephane Biesenbach:
Phone +49 (0) 30 209 129 51, e-mail: s.biesenbach@upstairs-berlin.com
Upstairs Berlin Gallery
Zimmerstrasse 90/91, staircase A, 1st floor
Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.