Lot 29: LEANDRO ERLICH

Broken Mirror

Installation dimensions variable. <br> <br>

Wood, ceramic tiles, ceramic sinks, glass, plastic comb, pil containers, chrome filament and light fixture.  

2005

Milan, La Triennale di Milano, Timer: Intimità/Intimacy, March 30 - June 10, 2007

Gallerie 43, Buenos Aires

Leandro Erlich is a master of the double-take—a magician as much as an artist. His pieces puzzle the viewer until a second look grants full permission to understand the visual trickery at play. Broken Mirror is no exception. The piece is an average bathroom scene—a mirror affixed to a standing sink with a toothbrush and holder to one side and a small light fixture hovering above. However upon second glance, viewers see that in fact, no mirror exists and instead the piece is duplicated back to back to appear as though a one exists. If two people stand on either side of the piece, instead of a mirror holding their reflection, they see the other individual across the way. This inventive and unexpected use of trompe l’oeil is what makes Leandro Erlich such a provocative artist and what has garnered him such international acclaim. Erlich brings forth the unexpected from the most ordinary of objects: a mirror, a door, a window, or even a swimming pool. His work evokes philosophical challenges on reality such as those presented by other artists like Rene Magritte’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Erlich loves to engage his viewers with the ultimate goal, of course, to challenge them. His work entertains too with a touch of humor and irony that transcends the viewer experience from laissez-faire observation to engaged inquiry. Erlich has said: “I think it’s the simplicity—the fact that something extraordinary can happen in such a simple way, technically and conceptually. That’s an important factor in all of my projects. The viewer can trace the process; it’s recognizable. The trick is not presented to deceive the viewer, but to be understood and resolved by him. Such an engagement with the work involves the viewer’s participation and leads to the thought that reality is as fake and constructed as the art; it’s a fiction. Although it’s the fiction that we all agree to live in. I’m a very optimistic person, and understanding that reality can be many things at the same time increases our awareness of life, politics, and our surroundings in general,” (Artkrush (online content) October 29, 2008)