This exhibition revolves around recent collaborations between Elene Chantladze and Simon Lässig, two artists from different generations who share an interest in early childhood experiences and education. Lässig edited Chantladze’s most recent book, Tales for children (2023), which is shown here alongside twelve of his miniature paintings. Executed on pieces of cardboard of irregular size and shape, the images represent indistinct characters in closed and unidentifiable worlds. Hung in a linear procession, the paintings read almost like cells in film, an effect that structures the multiple internal narratives into a larger story. The sense of movement created by the stroke is enhanced by the laborious intensity of Chantladze’s brushstroke. Rough and very expressive, the compositions seem darkly animated. You feel compelled to go back to it to make sure the characters haven’t moved or crossed a neighboring frame.
Lässig’s contributions are balanced on a dichotomy of additive and reductive maneuvers. The exhibition is complemented by two obliquely titled gelatin silver prints of schematic architectural drawings, as well as a film whose 106-word title describes the artist’s emotional experience of watching Ferenc Grunwalsky’s domestic documentary in 1974, Anyasag (Maternity). In at 2:23 a.m.: Anyasag, 1974 .. . , 2022, Lässig doubles the length of a clip from the source film which shows a woman operating a bathroom faucet. Unnoticed by the woman, the shot pans away and through various details of the house, finally backtracking to observe her again at hip height, the position from which a child would gaze at its mother. In part of its expansive title, Lässig describes the images as “a moment when we look at the world and see ourselves not reflected”. This sense of estrangement frames Lässig and Chantladze’s collaboration.
