Art in Progress is inspired by art schools across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The series, which started in 2009, consists of images of studios where the students work. Shot with a large format camera and printed analogically, the images are intentionally detailed, frontal and neutral. “I have a certain interest in confronting myself with reality,” the artist explains, “and that is conveyed by frontal images, and by a cold aesthetic offering the spectator the possibility of visually navigating a space that is simultaneously contemplative and dynamic.”
Despite their absence, the students remain present in the spaces they have occupied, the objects they have engaged with, and the work they are in the process of making. The spaces exude a palpable sense of collective energy. The objects that are scattered throughout the studios often belong to the Western canon of art history and constitute a web of cross-references, which act as a unifying device throughout the series. The studios, ranging from Saigon to Saint Petersburg and Bombay to New Haven, condense the presence of students, the passage of time, and the production of art, to create an intensely stratified space.