Other Criteria presents ‘Exotic Juicy Tutti Frutti’ – a series of photographs by Antonio Marguet

From September 6^th 2012 Other Criteria (Hinde Street) will exhibit works by Antonio Marguet. The exhibition titled ‘Exotic Juicy Tutti Frutti’, will be on display in the Photography Room, a space on the lower ground floor dedicated to photography.

Each photograph takes its title from a variety of car air fresheners, named extravagantly to stimulate the imagination. The reference to these artificial fragrances is not just a comment on the deodorant industry. Conceptually, it plays on the current day necessity of creating one’s own, personal brand, especially in the realms of social media. Marguet uses these air fresheners and deodorants as metaphors for commodified brand enhancers.

The photographs in this series show Marguet’s fascination with what he sees as ‘the excess of subjectivity and self-absorption in the social media age’. It is the seductive nature of being projected as a commodity beyond the power of the rational gaze that inspires his work. Marguet’s aim is to create a myth or fetish around an object without the object existing physically, which is similar to how we mirror ourselves through the fictional narratives we build on the online platforms of social media. Marguet’s work is photography-based, and although he creates ‘object-sculptures’, it is only the image that remains as the end result.

Written by: admin on August 21, 2012.