Questioning Reality

I have been absent for a few weeks on this blog, but although there's been little time to write I've saved the links of things I've come across during my busy time and I now have an abundance of inspirational things to post. I will start with the amazing mind of Leandro Erlich.

As a child most of us would have found a sense of wonderment walking round a funhouse, a fairground of attractions or have even been lucky enough to go to Disneyland or some place similar. The work of Leandro reminds me of that fun experience of testing what you see in front of you, it makes you questions what our reality is. He makes rooms and objects that you normally see from only one perspective look completely different and bizarre from a whole new angle. The Shattering Door is what first brought Leandro's work to my attention as it feels like he has captured a moment in time, a freeze frame where you don't see the aftermath of the door falling into a thousand pieces on the floor. However this then makes you question how the pieces can stay in this frozen state without falling, you wonder what would make enough of an impact to create this, you understand that it must have been considerable so where is the rest of the destruction? However all these thoughts makes you forget the reality and for me it was not until a few minutes later that I remembered that wooden doors don't just shatter, only things more delicate like glass or ceramics do. It is an amazing piece of art which takes you on a journey down a revealing thought process which is more about what you see and what you know to be real. You can actually hear the penny dropping as people start to work it out.

Some of Leandro's other work have a sutler statement attached to them, some are pointing out parts of life which we accept to readily without question, such as The Smoking Room. What if the room was transparent and you could see the smoke contained in the room. Without the walls hiding what's going on it makes you realise what is produced in a room dedicated just for smoking. Or when we look down a staircase we give ourselves a view of the steps below, people already a few floors lower than us decending down the stairs. But what if this was turned vertical on us, it is recognisable but yet we feel our position is in question for the angle we view it from.

This work is genius, Leandro Erlich has a very clever mind and this is my favourite type of art, where I question what I see but then by looking further and closer at the piece the statement being made becomes clear and I then question my own perspective.