Orbit-02, 2014, Fineartprint on dibond, 150x150cm, edition of 3Artist and graphic designer Mark Gmehling's recent exhibition Plastic Relations could be described as a plasticine dystopia. On a surface level, his digitally rendered images of oblong plastic people appear cartoonish and even funny, but look closer and the work reveals a bleak undercurrent. One piece depicts a mob of figures trudging in a caged circle and clutching their sides in apparent pain, while another includes the characters rolled up into a ball as they hold their hands together in prayer. The glossy surface layer of each image is a visual sleight of hand.
Polonaise fig.01, 2014, Finartprint on dibond, 200x90cm, edition of 3
Orbit-01 (Detail), 2014, Fineartprint on dibond, 150x150cm, edition of 3
Reigen fig.02, 2014, Finartprint on dibond, 160x90cm, edition of 3
Plastic Relations is on view at RWE Foyer through October 24th. For more on Mark Gmehling, visit his website here.Images courtesy of the artist.Related:"Flight Intestines" Imagines What The Melting Innards Of A Jet Look LikeThis Is What The Child Of 3D Printing And Cinema 4D Looks Like'The Sculpted Alphabet' Turns Unexpected Objects Into 3D ABC's
On view from August 22nd through October 24th at RWE Foyer in Germany, Plastic Relations was inspired by the "triviality and absurdity of human life," explains Gmehling over email. The greyscale works are named after "social dances" like Polonaise and Reigen, references to historical, repetitive dance styles that the artist says portray his worldview "in a more or less metaphoric way—manners of society, mob mentality, hierarchy structures, and more that feel absurd to me."