What springs to mind when you think of Play-Doh? Peeling endless bits of it off your carpet after the kids have discarded their creations? A huge dirty brown mass when all the lovely bright colours get mixed together?
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Well a new art exhibition might make you see it as more than something you bring out of the toy cupboard to entertain your children on a rainy day.
“Photographs Rendered in Play-Doh” by Eleanor Macnair is showing at the Atlas Gallery in London from now until Nov. 21. It features images of Play-Doh reproductions of a range of images, some iconic and others lesser-known.
Macnair’s project began on a whim in August 2013, revealed a press release from Atlas Gallery. She created each work late at night using Play-Doh, a chopping board, a blunt Ikea knife and a highball glass as a rolling pin.
Each work takes 1 to 2 hours to reproduce before being photographed the following morning, before it is taken apart. The Play-Doh returned to its pots, ready to be used again for future renderings, which means all that remains of the work is the photograph.
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“On the surface, photographs can condense complex ideas and present them in a straightforward visual language,” said Macnair. “I take this a step further and pare them down to almost nothing, just form and colour. They are what they are. Photographs Rendered in Play-Doh. It’s my strange tribute to photography.”
The objective of “Photographs Rendered in Play-Doh” is simple: to encourage viewers to slow down, re-engage with familiar photographs and discover new ones.
View “Photographs Rendered in Play-Doh” at Atlas Gallery, 49 Dorset St, London W1U 7NF.
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