When entering the Project Space at the Rhodes Contemporary Gallery, the visitor will begin to feel an distinct sensation of being watched. Looking around 'Fade Out,' the intial Marius Seidlitz collection to exhibit in the UK, the first thing that catches the eye is the deep shadows and brilliant highlights of his surreal canvas oil paintings. The second thing: the eyes gazing back at you.
Eyes are a returning motif of Seidlitz's work, as well as an overarching element of this exhibition: every painting in the room stares back at you. Looking closer, the eyes appear strangely exaggerated and sultry, glossy and cat-like.
Indeed, the first two paintings of the exhibition both depict cat-like creatures. The animals creep out from the shadows, highlighted only by the harsh beams of light that cross their faces. The inky shadows of Show Me Your Scars I and II, as the pieces are titled, obscure the creatures almost entirely - the only distinguishable forms are the cat's eyes and ears. Seidlitz plays with obscurity in his works: he takes away the audience's power to 'view' the works entirely.
The third piece the viewer will encouter in Fade Out is Target. From the depths of the dizzying, spiralling geomtrical forms another pair of cat eyes look out at you - this time, it's only the piercing eyes that are visible. Seidlitz's recognisable style of brilliantly contrasting monochrome is employed once again, making the sharp geometrical forms reminiscient of deadly metal sheets or blades. The piece has a sinister feeling to it, exacerbated by the title Target. This sinister sense speaks to Seidlitz's skill as an artist: through simply a monochrome palette and geometric forms, the painter plays with reality and illusion, throwing off and unsettling the viewer.
Moving further into the exhibiting space, the visitor is confronted by Take Cover. From amongst glossy, metallic leaves a woman's eye peeks out, and from behind the leaves a snippet of her puckered lips are also visible. The scene is secretive and sexual - a pervasive theme in Seidlitz's work. Once again the artist plays with the gaze, however this time the eyes looking back at you are sultry and glamorous, almost attempting to entice the viewer closer. The artist cuts away the face, stripping it back to its most erotic features. He plays upon standards of beauty, hyperbolising what society deems the most desirable features until they are left caricature-esque.
Marius Seidlitz's paintings are consciously provocative. The final and titular piece of the exhibition, Fade Out, depicts a woman's figure. Captured in the same metallic monochrome palette as the earlier pieces, she appears robot-like and unhuman. Seidlitz alters her seemingly nude body - partly shrouded in shadow, the body parts left illuminated result in a disjointed yet sensual and figure. By emphasizing the standards of beauty considered most erotic, Seidlitz subverts these expectations by creating something grotesque.
The woman's eyes are cast into shadow, yet the viewer still feels her gaze.
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