Jacob Gils. Movements

ProjectB is pleased to present the first exhibition at the gallery of the Danish photographer Jacob Gils. The show includes seven works of impeccable technical and compositional expertise. The two different series – Movements and Limit to Your Love – are both marked by a strong desire to break away from the dictates that imprison photography, making it overly controlled and predictable. Gils explores the potential of the medium, going beyond its theoretical and stylistic boundaries to approach new creative and technical challenges, expanding the visual vocabulary of photographic genres.
 
The layering of multiple shots in the Movements series generates engaging interpretations of iconic structures, like London red telephone boxes or the cathedral of Milan. These are fragmented, draped, distorted images that require the viewer not only to observe, but also to approach, to pay attention to details that are not evident from a distance.
At first glance the works may seem blurry, out of focus; but they are actually the overlaying of different perfectly focused photographs of the same subject, which Gils makes by almost imperceptibly moving the camera between one shot and the next, creating the illusion of movement. The layering of these images often gives rise to a second, translucent form that translates into a style close to that of Impressionist painting; but upon closer examination the details of modern photography emerge, triggering images balanced between dream and reality, abstraction and realism.
 
The first experiments involved the transfer of Polaroids onto watercolor paper, consciously dividing the photograph into multiple fields. This technique makes it possible to express wholeness and sensuality, as seen in the nudes of the Limit to Your Love series, which prompt the viewer to think about life and its representation, through the insertion of a white field that surrounds the image, a factor of disturbance aimed at emphasizing the break with the everyday life to which we are accustomed.

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