Right after starting their residency at Villa Medici in Rome, Lek & Sowat teamed up with photographers Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre for a fresh new project that is currently showing at Polka Galerie in Paris. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work is a joint show that includes a unique series of works produced in collaboration between the two artistic duos.
Opened on January 21st and staying on view until March 5th, this exhibition is the continuation of Lek & Sowat’s experimental artistic incubators in which they combine and modify their abstract installations and calligraphic paintings along with new settings or other new works. For this project, they teamed up with photographers in order to explore the photographic development process on their signature imagery of contemporary ruins. The artists picked three iconic photos from the Industry and Ruins of Detroit series, and experimented with chemical processes specific to photography. Using liquid developer to paint directly on photosensitive paper, they applied their signature geometric shapes directly to the photograph, making it a vital part of the image. In addition to producing these collaborative pieces, the urban artists also invaded the gallery basement by stylizing the walls, creating a great background for Marchand & Meffre’s empty yet dynamic photographs.
Photo credit: Nicolas Gzeley.
