Photographer Heli Rekula in a group exhibition in London
11.3.2008
“Viva Lolita” presents a wide range of contemporary artists depictions of young teenage girls that capture the mingling of fading innocence with emerging sexuality. Ispired by the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s notorious book, Lolita has since been coined as a word, with widening connotations, for a sexy teenage girl. Images of sensual dressed female adolescents have been an increasing phenomenon not only in the world of
advertising and media but also visual art, particularly in the genre of pthotgraphic portraiture. Acknowldging the complex nature of the transistion from girl to womanhood, some contemporary artists have inclination towards examining and deconstructing the sense of young teenage innocence and purity with a combination of irony and ambiguity.
Heli Rekulala presents two photographic works from the series Desiré, which date back to 1996.
“Viva Lolita” brings together a selection of existing and specially commissioned works by 18 international artists some of whom are exhibiting in London for the first time. The exhibition is curated by James Putnam.
Charlotte Beaudry (Belgium) Heli Rekula (Finland) Koichi Enomoto (Japan) Fafi (France) Feng Qianyu (China) Nick Ruston (Uk) Nazif Topcuoglu (Turkey) Li Bo (China) Mark Karasick (Canada) Trevor Brown (UK) Nobuyoshi Araki (Japan) Hellen Van Meene (Netherlands) Lei Benben(China) Edvarda Braanas (Norway) Stu Mead (USA) Jens Lucking (Germany) Andrea Massaioli (Italy) Mat Collishaw (UK).
Maddox Arts, 52 Brook’s Mews, London W1K 4ED
www.maddoxarts.com
Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary