Red Naomi
16 NICHOLSON STREET GALLERY / GLASGOW (UK)
08.09.2017 – 05.11.2017

Taking its title from the Red Naomi, one of the most popular roses exported from Kenya to Europe which is celebrated for its “high petal count, improved longevity and resistance to transport”, Radek Brousil’s exhibition deals with the symbolism and impact of our fondness for flowers.
The exhibition opens with two patchwork-like fabric prints joining together textile designs from Czech textile company VEBA, which is aimed for the African market. On these textiles, Radek Brousil’s photographs taken inside the Glasgow Botanic Gardens and several studio re-shots of internet memes formally relating and unrelating to work safety educational illus- trations accentuate the encounters of the artificial and natural world.
Stone roses produced in mineral streams of Karlovy Vary, a traditional Czech spa with high- ly mineralised water containing high levels of lithium, are lying covered with transparent PVC plastic sailing, somehow resembling the covering of corpses. The transparent surface is imprinted with story-fragments about the model Naomi Campbell being given a pouch with “dirty looking” stones - blood diamonds. Finally the video shot in hyper-realistic definition in Glasgow’s Kibble Palace resembles computer games’ rendering of a deserted dystopic sci-fi through contrast and definition, then unfolds into a night swimming pool scene with an actress wear- ing a comedy flower costume. The voiceover explains the conditions and impact of African rose production in a fragmented and genre-switching style, oscillating between documentary, internet journal- ism and literature (the text by Francis Mckee). The story ends in a long shot of the actress’s uncertain expression.
While the often problematic vertical import/export line between Europe and Africa is thematically present, the work also questions the role and capacity of photography in under- mining but also establishing hierarchies in the logic of “competing images”. The dream-like, often surreal mood of the exhibition de-contextualising and ridiculing the original symbol- ism and imagery aims to emphasise the inherent political message by twisting it. In an era of overwhelming images, traditional mechanisms of content-attitude expression may often feel pathetic and involuntarily ironical. As such, Brousil is trying to develop new ways of speaking with photography where different tools such as attractive formal stylisation, repetition of certain motives in different incarnations, and radical genre and style switches serve to replace the traditional punchline.

Curated by Michal Novotny

Courtesy of the artist and 16 NICHOLSON STREET GALLERY