Roman Ondak If, 2019
Ink on cutting from a book
Tusche auf Buchausschnitt
Tusche auf Buchausschnitt
9 x 13,7 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/8 in) (unframed)
40,2 x 50,2 x 4 cm (15 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1 5/8 in) (framed)
9 x 13,7 cm (ungerahmt)
40,2 x 50,2 x 4 cm (gerahmt)
40,2 x 50,2 x 4 cm (15 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1 5/8 in) (framed)
9 x 13,7 cm (ungerahmt)
40,2 x 50,2 x 4 cm (gerahmt)
The work depicts a view of Paris with the Cathedral of Notre Dame. In a reference to the fire of the Parisian landmark in April 2019, bright red clouds rise from the church’s towers and fill the sky. Yet, it is not a characteristic flame or fire cloud that the artist has painted. Rather the color extends upwards and fills the sky in an abstracted T-shape. While the expansion of the cloud can be read as an expression of the enormity of the event, the lingering shape is also seen to have wider implications: a cloud covering Paris, perhaps France and Europe in uncertain times of political upheavals.
With poignant emotional immediacy, the work’s allusion to a disaster considered an international cultural tragedy that also awakened personal memories and provoked individual acts of mourning highlights a shared yet individualized experience.
The series If includes postcards and prints the artist bought in specialized print and ephemera shops in Paris. As in previous works, such as Across that Place, 2008–11 on the history of the Panama Canal or his 2010 series Glimpse, inserting himself into historical prints of Mount Vesuvius, Ondak focuses on the cultural memory constructed by artists and designers of mass-produced ephemera.
With poignant emotional immediacy, the work’s allusion to a disaster considered an international cultural tragedy that also awakened personal memories and provoked individual acts of mourning highlights a shared yet individualized experience.
The series If includes postcards and prints the artist bought in specialized print and ephemera shops in Paris. As in previous works, such as Across that Place, 2008–11 on the history of the Panama Canal or his 2010 series Glimpse, inserting himself into historical prints of Mount Vesuvius, Ondak focuses on the cultural memory constructed by artists and designers of mass-produced ephemera.
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