Thea Djordjadze’s Spoons are Different

Berlin based artist Thea Djordjadze creates site-specific installations, using everyday materials such as foam, fabric, glass and steel to conceive an artwork tailored to its gallery space.

By finalising her pieces in situ, her aim is to remain “in the moment, and retain a perspective on the future”. However this rather vague statement made in the exhibition press release is difficult to see translated into the realities of the gallery floor. What visitors do see on entering Spoons are Different is a variety of steel sculptures arranged in a bare space.

A yellow wall panel spread onto the floor and foam shapes create a consistent theme of colour and design, creating fluidity through the rooms. This suggests a unique quality to her work; her repetitions in material and design conceit make her art recognisably Djordjadze’s even in her most obscure pieces.

Although minimalist and abstract, this display of Djordjadze’s work (her first in London) leaves plenty of room for a participant’s imagination to discover the conception behind the steel and foam. “Participant“ is the salient word here. Visitors to the show are encouraged to walk freely around the pieces, to study them up-close. Studying the shapes of work, a bed made of foam can be seen and perhaps the beginnings of a staircase in the next room. Perhaps another theme is that of a home, showing the “deterioration” and the effects of “changing time” that the artist also set out to show through this exhibition.

Although this may not be an exhibit for everyone, it can be difficult to see meaning in the work due to its abstract nature. However, the tactile nature of the exhibition and the freedom it allows for the viewers participation and imagination is sure to illicit the opinions of amateur art critics everywhere.

Verdict: ●●●

Clare McCraith

Thea Djordjadze’s Spoons are Different is on display at the Sprüth Magers Gallery, 7A Grafton Street, 1st-29th September. For more information click here