Marion Friedmann Gallery

Deserted City Sculptures

DESERTED CITY - PHASE 1 & 2 -
EIGHT SCULPTURES

by LAS ÁNIMAS, Spain, 2014 - 2017


MATERIAL: plywood, pigmented plaster, marble dust
EDITION: 8 + 1 AP per model

The 'Deserted City' is a series of eight sculptoric constructions by LAS ÁNIMAS, in tribute to “GOG”, the book by writer and philosopher Giovanni Papini, 1881-1956.

“All of a sudden, a huge, towering and straight-edged shadow arose half a mile away from us.”

GOG; Giovanni Papini, 1931.

The works created in this series are based on the search for the representation of empty architectures, full of visual labyrinths that play visually with the perception of volume, shapes and their position.

These pieces can be placed in different positions, generating a creative bond with the spectator and acquiring new views and meanings each time. To create them the artists start from a pencil sketch and finish with a render on the computer. Then the wood is cut, glued and covered with several layers of material, simulating walls made of rustic and basic materials. Finally, they apply several coats of acrylic varnish to protect it.

The pieces have been included in editorials of important magazines such as Architectural Digest Spain, RUM ID, Financial Times or the prestigious Poltrona Frau brand catalogue.

DESERTED CITY PHASE 2

THE DOG

“I whistled again and the furious barkings answered me over the screams and complaints of the assaulted.”
35 x 40 x 30 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 11.81"

THE ELEPHANT

“A gigantic palace one mile on each side, with infinite galleries, endless corridors and halls, countless stairways and landings of vast proportions, well-distributed courtyards and subways...”
35 x 40 x 39 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 15.35"

THE HAREM

The atrium was deserted, it had no altars nor images but the walls were occupied every few meters by pyramid-shaped confessionals, sealed and dark like sepulchres...”
35 x 40 x 40 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 15.75"

THE SHIP

“For Many And Long Years I Have Lived, Alone And In Silence, Under The Great Waters. I Have Inhabited All The Seas, I Have Explored All The Oceans, I Have Lowered All The Abyss...”
35 x 40 x 35 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 13.77"

DESERTED CITY - PHASE 1

THE CAMEL

“Everything looked intact, as if all the citizens had left at the same time, unanimously, calmly, once and for all. Mass desertion, not destruction nor escape.”
40 x 26 x 26.5cm // 15.75" x 10.24" x 10.43"

THE LION

“I entered a maze of narrow, deserted, silent streets. No lights behind the windows nor under doors: not a single voice, no signs of life. Every exit was closed.”
35 x 40 x 35 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 13.77"

THE HORSE

“No doors opened, nobody answered, no sound of steps, no dogs barking, no horses neighing, nothing broke that taciturn hallucination.”
35 x 40 x 39 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 15.35"

THE DRAGON

“In tokyo, in san francisco, in berlin, i recall it as a terrifying nightmare, from which perhaps i wouldn’t like to awake. And i feel punctured by wistful melancholy, by a great desire to see it again.”
35 x 40 x 20 cm // 13.77" x 15.75" x 7.87"