Photographers
Karine Laval: Reflections at Crane Kalman Gallery
PhotocriticEtcKarine Laval: Reflections celebrates 15 years of work by the contemporary French photographer, Karine Laval. The exhibition, organised to coincide with the publication of a major new book on her work bySteidl, charts the evolution of Laval’s images from sun-drenched, bleached-out European lidos to darker, more abstracted dystopian landscapes.
The exhibition will bring together two connected bodies of work – ‘The Pool’ (2002 - 2005) and ‘Poolscapes’ (2009 - 2012) – focused on the motif of the swimming pool. Presenting public pools in urban and natural environments throughout Europe and private pools in the US, the work shows an evolution in tone and depth, from the real to the imagined, from the photographic to the painterly.
Alongside these earlier works, the exhibition will present Laval’s most recent series, ‘Heterotopia’ which continue Laval’s evolving exploration of distorted realities and altered perceptions, using manipulations of light and colour. The images from ‘Heterotopia’ are densely layered photographs of gardens and other manicured ‘natural’ environments, created by combining analogue techniques and digital technologies.
Karine Laval: Reflections will run from 20 July to 19 August 2017 at the Crane Kalman Gallery, 178 Brompton Road, London SW1 1HQ.
