Untitled (Image Sculpture) #2, 2012
Matias Faldbakken
Playing with self-sabotage is also evident in Faldbakken’s “Image Sculptures” – created by conventionally hanging 30 framed photographic prints on the wall in a row before taking them down and strapping them together into a freestanding column. All that remains of their hanging on the wall are the position markings and the screws – as if the pictures had refused to be exhibited, leaving visible gaps as evidence of their absence; what is on display is the refusal of their distribution so to speak. Leaned against the wall below the spots originally occupied by the pictures in the “Image Sculptures” are large-format PVC pictures (190 x 134 cm) that are linked to Faldbakken’s “Leaning Works” (2005 – 2008), but which are more abstract than their predecessors on account of cut-out and stuck-on elements. Positioned one above the other like this, the negated pictures of the “Image Sculptures” and the PVC cutouts evoke a dialogue rich in conflict.