Artist Alina Frieske creates photographic collages in which hundreds of fragments taken from various photographs are assembled into new images, as if they were pieces of different puzzles mixed and matched in a single tableau. Her work deals with the digital world for the form but recalls the painting tradition for the practice. Strongly influenced by the book “Life: A User’s Manual” by Georges Perec, she explores the concept of multiplicity with an intimate look on mundane life.
The subjects portrayed in her images are mainly domestic and in a certain way really familiar, maybe because these artworks are based on everyday photos taken from the endless pool of the web.
Combined together, the images camouflage themselves in their mutual imitation. Which contours remain recognisable and what blurs in the multitude?
Alina Frieske’s work explores the dynamics between the individual and the mass, between figurative elements and illusion.
Presented for the first time in July 2021 at the Images Gibellina festival, the site-specific installation Abglanz - The house of cards, imagines the work of the young German artist as a construction of paper cards standing through the immense Sistema delle Piazze of the iconic Sicilian city of Gibellina.
“Abglanz” which in German means reflection or distant echo is the title of the artist's recent series, already presented by the curatorial collective Twenty14 in February 2021 in Milan.
The installation form offers the possibility to rethink the fruition of the work and to underline two fundamental aspects of the artist's practice: the concept of multiplicity and the act of reassemble fragments of photographs into new images. The idea of ​​the structure takes inspiration from "House of Cards" the puzzle game created by Charles and Ray Eames in 1950. The Eames brothers' house of cards is a creative modifier for both children and adults aimed in line with the philosophy of due designers: “Toys aren't as innocent as they seem. Toys and games are preludes to serious ideas ”.
The installation is designed in order to stimulate the attention and imagination of the public through a playful exploration. Visitors can observe the various images from different perspectives by moving at close range and around the structure. Observing details and connections between the various pieces of the 3d puzzle.
