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NOW ON VIEW: Francesca Woodman at Gagosian

L to R: “Untitled,” c. 1977-78, 3 7/16 x 3 7/16 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1977-78, 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1979-80, 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1979-80, 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 in. / “Still” or “Still Life in House,” 1976, 4 5/8 x 4 1/8 in. / “House #4,” from the “House” series, 1976, 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. / “Lightning” or “Lightning Legs,” 1976, 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. All artworks by Francesca Woodman. All gelatin silver prints. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
L to R: “Untitled,” c. 1977-78, 3 7/16 x 3 7/16 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1977-78, 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1979-80, 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. / “Untitled,” c. 1979-80, 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 in. / “Still” or “Still Life in House,” 1976, 4 5/8 x 4 1/8 in. / “House #4,” from the “House” series, 1976, 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. / “Lightning” or “Lightning Legs,” 1976, 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. All artworks by Francesca Woodman. All gelatin silver prints. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Gagosian Gallery

555 West 24th Street, New York

through April 27

As the works on view at Gagosian suggest, Francesca Woodman carried ideas with her from place to place, making the exhibition a map of her intellectual odyssey; observations made in Italy make repeat appearances in photographs made in New York and trace back to others made while in Providence. In this case, peeled frescoes in the Basilica di San Francesco in Ravenna, Italy—markers of decay—mirror stained walls in Woodman’s New York apartment and peeling wallpapers in an abandoned house near her studio at RISD. By portraying the fragile materiality of ruins, Woodman reveals her preoccupation with ephemerality, juxtaposing impermanence and timelessness through capturing ruins and fragments in her photos, with an especially keen eye for deteriorating spaces that bore witness to the passage of time.

Click on the image above for a complete gallery view and details.

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