Walking through the great rooms of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia some time ago, we stumbled upon a fascinating exhibition of antique daguerreotypes. We had a feeling that by some magic we were peering through time’s looking-glass, seeing a world sunken in the past: the world of silver illusions. We were inspired not only by the subjects of early photographs--mostly family portraits and celebrities whose faces we hadn’t seen before, such as Mozart’s sister or the famous Russian artist Karl Briullov--but by the beauty of the glittering silver plates themselves.
From these old daguerreotypes, the idea of silver glitter freely moved into our own canvases, where it was transformed into modern three-dimensional decorative designs. Different sorts of metal have always been among our favorite media, but this time, instead of using solid metal or found objects, we decided to create the illusion of relief with real gold leaf. As is typical in our work, we infused historical images with their modern interpretations, combining modernity and heritage as a way of speaking about the past in our language of contemporary art.
The exhibition's title has a double meaning. On one hand, it refers to the illusions created by early photography, which seemed to contemporaries like something out of science fiction. On the other, it nods to the illusory effects of a technique we are incorporating into our paintings for the first time. And art, of course, whether ancient or modern, is the greatest illusion of all! |
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