Esko Männikkö

Untitled (From "Organized Freedom, Final Edition" series)

Esko Mannikko

Esko Mannikko

"Covid Vanitas: The Pandemic Still Lifes" On the first day of quarantine I began photographing the people-less quiet of a home and studio in isolation. The still lifes are a visual ...

This listing is for the unframed photograph. Please inquire for framing. A NEW COLLABORATION Tina West + Tucker Robbins 2020 The Robin Rice Gallery is pleased to present a photographic exhibition by Tina West, featuring a special new collaboration between Robin Rice and furniture designer, activist Tucker Robbins. Jessica Kravitz of Exalted Alchemy created an aromatic experience exclusively for the exhibition. The installation was designed by sculpture Amy Pilkington. The opening reception will be held on Wednesday, January 29, 2019 from 6pm to 8pm. This is Tina West’s seventh solo exhibition at the Robin Rice Gallery and Tucker Robbins’ first collaboration with Robin Rice. Inspired of a serendipitous meeting between Robin Rice and Tucker Robbins on a rainy day in New York City, this latest collaboration welcomes an exciting new era at The Robin Rice Gallery. Breaking from the gallery’s traditional style of display, West’s photography will be creatively integrated with Robbins’ artisan furniture. Designed and built on the edge of the forest by indigenous people using centuries-old techniques, these products are born out of Tucker Robbins’ travels to remote locations. Whether woven textile, clay pottery or wood sculpture, these sustainably made products are materials that have been salvaged and refashioned into works of exquisite craftsmanship that are truly one of a kind. Found objects are essential in the installation. Boosting from an impressive visual flow, the installation discovers intersections between the works that can be seen to echo throughout the space. As West’s “Passion Lies at the Edge of Uncertainty” presents an image composed of dark negative space leading down to a snake skin on the surface below, Robbins’ “Snaka Waka Table” is an Acadian side-table found nearby that was named by the Bamun carvers of Cameroon who likened its circular design to snake walking. Together, West and Robbins make for an installation that invites audiences to sit down and connect to the fine art objects in a manner different from what they are regularly accustomed to at the Robin Rice Gallery. In speaking of her influences, West cites Josef Sudek as an early inspiration on her work for how he made evocative black and white photographs out of everyday happenings. Sudek himself once remarked, “I like to tell stories about the life of inanimate objects, to relate something mysterious.” This statement resonates well within West’s own work as she demonstrates a similar gift for finding the beauty in the banality of things overlooked. Her work also shares a kindred spirit with the eccentric assemblages of disparate images made by Joseph Cornell and the experimental platinum prints of Jan Groover...