Antonio Girbes: Refugios
Beautiful installation at Officina dell’Arte Spirituale, Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice of new work by Antonio Girbes. Girbes uses large photos of architectural elements displayed in a bent format to represent architectural form. The commentary says he is trying to create a place to take refuge from the business of modern society. I loved Agora based on Palladian architecture produced for this show. Also a painted ceiling shown like a kaleidoscope of colour. All the pictures were shown in this dark space which concentrated the eye on the image and its shape. Less architectural was a long picture of tress in a wood which reminded me of the Bill Viola video in the Botticelli exhibition at the V&A and the large David Hockney pictures of trees. Closes on 31 August 2016.