The Drawers and I
Martin Szekely presents the ambiguous nature of drawers in his minimal structural configuration ‘The Drawers and I’ at Pierre Marie Giraud gallery.
An important element in Martin Szekely‘s work since he’s come to public attention in 1982 is that his modes of production are consistently experimental and innovative in approach. Last year, at the madd-bordeaux, Szekely united forty pieces created between 1996 and 2018 under the title ‘Construction’ — with one of the items, ‘The Drawers and I’, making its public debut. A year later, this minimal structural configuration is put front and centre in his latest exhibition at Pierre Marie Giraud gallery.
Consisting of modular drawer units made out of solid oak plywood, the exhibition piece is based on the principle of the box. By solely focusing on the drawer, an item that is often taken for granted, Szekely aims to comment on the ambiguity of an object that both reveals and conceals:
“A drawer is a box. A set of drawers resembles an organism containing the things of a life, most often of a person, his or her collection; an age-old form of organised placement hidden from the view of others. The drawer is considered here as a standardised unit for constructive purposes. When the units are stacked, gaps can be defined; there is no dimensional limit for full-scale “construction game” other than the size of houses, which themselves are boxes.” – Martin Szekely
‘The Drawers and I’ will be on view from May 17 to August 24, 2019 at Pierre Marie Giraud in Brussels.
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