Lillian Davies reports in ArtForum that Meredyth Sparks, in her latest exhibition, �Everything We Have Loved Is Lost,� continues to pursue the gaps between the original and its repetition, referencing the work of Kazimir Malevich in much the same way she previously sampled images of 1970s cultural icons. “For ‘Extraction,’ 2009, a series of colorful, sparkling works, Sparks uses glitter, aluminum foil, and digital scans of these materials to create geometric surfaces alive with light and texture. In one work, the artist has attached her reference image��a gathering of women wearing short white dresses��to the bottom corner of the large abstract collage. Rather than revealing the process of evolution of the original image into the collage, Sparks emphasizes the difference between the two�entirely forgoing the figurative forms of the original photograph in an extrapolation of underlying shapes and colors. Likewise, her photograph Untitled (Dylan reflects), 2009, appears in small scale in the top corner of one of the largest ‘Extractions.’ As if a shadow of the musician�s image, the red composition recalls a contemplative Bob Dylan through color and abstraction.
“Maintaining Malevich�s pure aesthetic, Sparks has finished these works with thin wooden frames, a departure from the shiny metal surrounding her earlier works. Similarly, she has covered the gallery�s glass facade with a wallpaperlike appliqu閖a sharp pattern of short diagonal lines��veiling the exhibition with the simple repetition of Constructivist form.
“Meredyth Sparks: Everything We Have Loved Is Lost,” Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, through Nov. 7, 2009.
