Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info Christopher van Ginhoven Rey Sat, 08 Nov 2025 01:48:09 +0000 https://vanginhovenrey.info en Head of Orpheus https://vanginhovenrey.info/Head-of-Orpheus Sun, 20 Nov 2022 20:32:33 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Head-of-Orpheus <img width="2100" height="1500" width_o="2100" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/95a4fd172634da6cb6f90f896c134bf4fc958bfe61962f0b565be1697d29b7a3/IMG_2309.jpg" data-mid="159677150" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/95a4fd172634da6cb6f90f896c134bf4fc958bfe61962f0b565be1697d29b7a3/IMG_2309.jpg" /> Head of OrpheusArchival inkjet print18 x 12 inches Valéry Museum https://vanginhovenrey.info/Valery-Museum Tue, 24 Sep 2019 22:36:03 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Valery-Museum <img width="1756" height="1331" width_o="1756" height_o="1331" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d86bad4fbe4a43dbe0fe0288d842519feb4e287456b2b162eb225d9cdc70a0dc/VM-Display.jpg" data-mid="161428965" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d86bad4fbe4a43dbe0fe0288d842519feb4e287456b2b162eb225d9cdc70a0dc/VM-Display.jpg" /> Valéry Museum Portfolio of two laser prints on metallic paper 7.5 x 11 inches each Ferrum https://vanginhovenrey.info/Ferrum Sun, 06 Nov 2022 22:25:18 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Ferrum <img width="1500" height="2150" width_o="1500" height_o="2150" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a22e5ab4e1aaf580dba38b7fc81fa45bebc1fb89676775118ea6f702681fea2d/F4.jpg" data-mid="158113986" border="0" data-scale="56" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a22e5ab4e1aaf580dba38b7fc81fa45bebc1fb89676775118ea6f702681fea2d/F4.jpg" />&nbsp; Heat in the NightFerric oxide, graphite and Vaseline on paper9 x 14 inches <img width="1500" height="2150" width_o="1500" height_o="2150" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df3f3289b6dc863583deb18966edaec7ce1ef70ae83a71b56a9bafcbd2d06d16/F3.jpg" data-mid="158113985" border="0" data-scale="56" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/df3f3289b6dc863583deb18966edaec7ce1ef70ae83a71b56a9bafcbd2d06d16/F3.jpg" /> DicktedFerric oxide, graphite and Vaseline on paper9 x 14 inches <img width="1500" height="2150" width_o="1500" height_o="2150" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/91e034d13693a3c0b8f5b393aabd8992345bcc9b1f7db3b4b3f2d53091dcaa37/F2.jpg" data-mid="158113984" border="0" data-scale="56" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/91e034d13693a3c0b8f5b393aabd8992345bcc9b1f7db3b4b3f2d53091dcaa37/F2.jpg" /> SpokesFerric oxide, graphite and Vaseline on paper9 x 14 inches <img width="1500" height="2150" width_o="1500" height_o="2150" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/239ee6e510d8788bc7a78ccb322aa0db8e380d1096d17af76a52880e15bfacc2/F1.jpg" data-mid="158113983" border="0" data-scale="56" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/239ee6e510d8788bc7a78ccb322aa0db8e380d1096d17af76a52880e15bfacc2/F1.jpg" /> OverloadFerric oxide, graphite and Vaseline on paper9 x 14 inches <img width="2100" height="2081" width_o="2100" height_o="2081" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f08b85337f8d6dc47283c690db6d924885160db8b5b4efbe74f531c78d9b21d/BOX-copy.jpg" data-mid="158115739" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f08b85337f8d6dc47283c690db6d924885160db8b5b4efbe74f531c78d9b21d/BOX-copy.jpg" /> &nbsp; Uqbar https://vanginhovenrey.info/Uqbar Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:35:14 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Uqbar <img width="1130" height="1800" width_o="1130" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fc0a31d441495aacc95741545d508b7b95574d833ccda37e039abf9a67535d39/Faisal-Framed-1-copy.jpg" data-mid="160840810" border="0" data-scale="61" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fc0a31d441495aacc95741545d508b7b95574d833ccda37e039abf9a67535d39/Faisal-Framed-1-copy.jpg" /> Royal Portrait (Jorge Luis Borges as King of Uqbar)Toner and color pencil on paper18 x 24 inches Uqbar is the name of the fictional country at the center of “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, the opening story of Jorge Luis Borges’s Ficciones (1944). In its current iteration, this wor takes the form of a dossier of drawings, prints, photographs, and an artist’s book,&nbsp;Upsala - Uraloaltaico. These works aim to simultaneously document and question the existence of this imaginary place. <img width="1650" height="1275" width_o="1650" height_o="1275" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/210da88677ebecbbe6db73cec496c0c7f49172cfdd5c60c4e0b7dcfb124e1c90/Contours.jpg" data-mid="161645894" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/210da88677ebecbbe6db73cec496c0c7f49172cfdd5c60c4e0b7dcfb124e1c90/Contours.jpg" /> Uqbar (Five Countours, after Édouard Léve, Œuvres, #496, “Hybrid territories are drawn by mixing the contours of different countries…”) Graphite on paper 5 sheets, 8.5 x 11 inches each <img width="2127" height="2700" width_o="2127" height_o="2700" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4af729eed6448b274d5007f1a16b06b0160aae28435b8a96af0ddb110b37f292/Embossing.jpg" data-mid="161644420" border="0" data-scale="66" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4af729eed6448b274d5007f1a16b06b0160aae28435b8a96af0ddb110b37f292/Embossing.jpg" /> Uqbar (Contour #4) Embossed paper5 panels, 8.5 x 10 inches each <img width="1000" height="790" width_o="1000" height_o="790" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7380d3830e395011d9c4e8373e2d2ed0a0f16e9800a71546140d86848e41451c/Air-Uqbar.jpg" data-mid="161646436" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7380d3830e395011d9c4e8373e2d2ed0a0f16e9800a71546140d86848e41451c/Air-Uqbar.jpg" /> Air Uqbar Photographic etching16 x 12 inches <img width="2220" height="1537" width_o="2220" height_o="1537" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/038300a40943a4d9610069018dc3600a43cfbfb29c1d574be94ee33facf02875/Z-Protest-3.jpg" data-mid="146500699" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/038300a40943a4d9610069018dc3600a43cfbfb29c1d574be94ee33facf02875/Z-Protest-3.jpg" /> Insertion (Royal Portrait, Costa Gavras, Z) Inkjet print 10 x 7.5 inches <img width="1348" height="989" width_o="1348" height_o="989" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c58ce4dae07db7c1605c6d5e0c5976d718b555befab1f9862c98dbd99a68b182/Protest-13.jpg" data-mid="146600182" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c58ce4dae07db7c1605c6d5e0c5976d718b555befab1f9862c98dbd99a68b182/Protest-13.jpg" /> Insertion (Royal Portrait, Costa Gavras, Z) Inkjet print20 x 15 inches <img width="1650" height="1275" width_o="1650" height_o="1275" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/97b5d61ee465625dfa366bc2cb8244281d997966ae248c2c2cdccade07012078/Men-in-Uqbar.jpg" data-mid="146600181" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/97b5d61ee465625dfa366bc2cb8244281d997966ae248c2c2cdccade07012078/Men-in-Uqbar.jpg" /> Men in Uqbar Inkjet print 16 x 20 inches <img width="2402" height="3300" width_o="2402" height_o="3300" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/29c0ce02d4242c46a316c3672da7bad5040325b9ab4d962577b3c862c8e01c55/Trona.jpg" data-mid="146500702" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/29c0ce02d4242c46a316c3672da7bad5040325b9ab4d962577b3c862c8e01c55/Trona.jpg" /> Uqbar (Landscape) Inkjet print 24 x 36 inches <img width="2977" height="1987" width_o="2977" height_o="1987" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e521a9573eb985f2c899d7d3f28f349132d6392e62e69bed83bdf8f81020a597/2022-06-238.jpg" data-mid="161656504" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e521a9573eb985f2c899d7d3f28f349132d6392e62e69bed83bdf8f81020a597/2022-06-238.jpg" />&nbsp; &nbsp;<img width="3008" height="2008" width_o="3008" height_o="2008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3c3557e1737bcaaf1c693ca4eb368f4744eb352d7c38761ef1e76cf5fa9d9ef/2022-06-239.jpg" data-mid="161656501" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d3c3557e1737bcaaf1c693ca4eb368f4744eb352d7c38761ef1e76cf5fa9d9ef/2022-06-239.jpg" /> <img width="2972" height="1984" width_o="2972" height_o="1984" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2e2681b9c1d8c9ef4485a3b27110f9f3a53ff7ef07d628f8f9678a0db165a4ac/2022-06-240.jpg" data-mid="161656503" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2e2681b9c1d8c9ef4485a3b27110f9f3a53ff7ef07d628f8f9678a0db165a4ac/2022-06-240.jpg" />&nbsp; &nbsp;<img width="2912" height="1944" width_o="2912" height_o="1944" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/065600c6e637cf973e421bc4acf9f4aff2177c3be3dc87e6caa2d9d140f4764a/2022-06-241.jpg" data-mid="161656502" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/065600c6e637cf973e421bc4acf9f4aff2177c3be3dc87e6caa2d9d140f4764a/2022-06-241.jpg" /> <img width="2931" height="1957" width_o="2931" height_o="1957" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3ac82bf65113ab41cab4ba9609ec933c910516af1b4be8123e3b28386e67686/2022-06-242.jpg" data-mid="161656505" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3ac82bf65113ab41cab4ba9609ec933c910516af1b4be8123e3b28386e67686/2022-06-242.jpg" /> Upsala - Uraloaltaico Artist book&nbsp; A4 size The Men of J. A. D. Ingres https://vanginhovenrey.info/The-Men-of-J-A-D-Ingres Mon, 12 Dec 2022 02:40:09 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/The-Men-of-J-A-D-Ingres <img width="1545" height="1905" width_o="1545" height_o="1905" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fe4c311f67fac0488187306ad08bca8ae087be8331a104a000dd0533417e8554/Ingres-3.jpeg" data-mid="161655590" border="0" data-scale="87" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fe4c311f67fac0488187306ad08bca8ae087be8331a104a000dd0533417e8554/Ingres-3.jpeg" /> <img width="1545" height="1905" width_o="1545" height_o="1905" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4b5863f0d617f0a5ff9dd54e3ae309d65b9cce7e97f26a8f9e754f0fa72b1a1c/Ingres-2.jpeg" data-mid="161655589" border="0" data-scale="87" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4b5863f0d617f0a5ff9dd54e3ae309d65b9cce7e97f26a8f9e754f0fa72b1a1c/Ingres-2.jpeg" /> <img width="1545" height="1905" width_o="1545" height_o="1905" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/81bc2191dfda2063b270bce7b1ad606045237c20ca1f48af8a71d47f5e392a8a/Ingres-1.jpeg" data-mid="161655588" border="0" data-scale="87" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/81bc2191dfda2063b270bce7b1ad606045237c20ca1f48af8a71d47f5e392a8a/Ingres-1.jpeg" /> Patmos https://vanginhovenrey.info/Patmos Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:34:58 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Patmos <img width="2717" height="2234" width_o="2717" height_o="2234" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4e6ccd40a98c6913cd6fec904e9f61da4c1820aa1a784ce2bd618e76036f6fe2/Patmos-Cyanotype.jpg" data-mid="161646896" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4e6ccd40a98c6913cd6fec904e9f61da4c1820aa1a784ce2bd618e76036f6fe2/Patmos-Cyanotype.jpg" /> Patmos Cyanotype on dyed fabric18 x 14 inches This series of cyanotypes is based on close-up photographs of the period at the end of the final verse of “Patmos,” a hymn that the German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin wrote toward the end of his life. Titled after the Greek island where Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation, “Patmos” was completed in 1803, around the same time that Hölderlin sent his translations of Sophocles and Pindar out for publication. I worked with collections of Hölderlin’s poems in the original German and in English and Spanish translation. California Winter Garden https://vanginhovenrey.info/California-Winter-Garden Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:18:47 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/California-Winter-Garden <img width="1981" height="1449" width_o="1981" height_o="1449" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4f1451894b3ba55c43673c73a7b29098b0186f82ff44ce25d5e3b1d5385979bc/2022-06-230.jpg" data-mid="160517589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4f1451894b3ba55c43673c73a7b29098b0186f82ff44ce25d5e3b1d5385979bc/2022-06-230.jpg" /> California Winter Garden Edition of 50 Risographic prints 12 x 18 inches <img width="1500" height="1200" width_o="1500" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/28863f202062c0180f9636355f4ded9465c69e3f06df9bb97c5ef27eb35a8e72/MBLA-CUP.jpg" data-mid="160516915" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/28863f202062c0180f9636355f4ded9465c69e3f06df9bb97c5ef27eb35a8e72/MBLA-CUP.jpg" /> California Winter GardenCustom printed 16 oz. paper cup5 inches tall While on a printmaking residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, Belgium, I spent a day in Brussels. Among the places I wanted to visit was the cemetery in Ixelles, where Marcel Broodthaers is buried. I’d seen pictures of his grave, a strange structure designed by himself and consisting of a concrete foundation and a large slab featuring a number of his works in high relief. I’d come to Brussels from Los Angeles, and after leaving the cemetery, I kept thinking about the strange conjunction of the two cities, so different from each other, taking place as a result of my presence there. Back at the Frans Masereel Center, I made a print memorializing this strange conjunction. It recreates the design of the iconic In-N-Out milkshake cup, but with the palm tree from Broodthaers’ Jardin d’hiver, which figures prominently on the back of his grave—and which I’d managed to surreptitiously trace while at the cemetery. The print eventually became the basis for an actual cup, a companion piece of sorts. お雪 https://vanginhovenrey.info/29009557 Thu, 01 Dec 2022 22:53:08 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/29009557 <img width="2000" height="1479" width_o="2000" height_o="1479" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb946c28151902644e45e59289a96c0388682ce89c5782a40caaf40166d5711a/DO1.jpg" data-mid="160759818" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fb946c28151902644e45e59289a96c0388682ce89c5782a40caaf40166d5711a/DO1.jpg" /> お雪&nbsp;[001] Inkjet print28 x 20 inches <img width="2000" height="1479" width_o="2000" height_o="1479" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a0dd7397a1abed1280418f09fadc38bc9e224b5de7bd5f86a045af906ff4ac2a/DO7.jpg" data-mid="160759821" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a0dd7397a1abed1280418f09fadc38bc9e224b5de7bd5f86a045af906ff4ac2a/DO7.jpg" /> お雪 [027]Inkjet print28 x 20 inches <img width="2000" height="1479" width_o="2000" height_o="1479" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ce484261238a70bb713a4286ffee67b9f33de84832020117be43132fe1a38f30/DO4.jpg" data-mid="160759819" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ce484261238a70bb713a4286ffee67b9f33de84832020117be43132fe1a38f30/DO4.jpg" /> お雪 [013]Inkjet print28 x 20 inches By the last few decades of the twentieth century, the Mexican conglomerate Televisa had come to dominate the media landscape of many Latin American countries. Peru, where I grew up, was no exception. Televisa was behind most of the foreign programming that did not originate in the United States, from children’s shows like El Chavo del Ocho to the soap operas aimed at adult audiences. El pecado de Oyuki (Oyuki’s Sin) stands out among the latter. The story centers on Oyuki Ogino, a young Japanese woman whose brother takes her with him to Tokyo and forces her to work as a geisha to pay off his gambling debts. Among the audience during one of her performances one night is a young man by the name of Irving Pointer, the son of the British ambassador to Japan. A painter, Irving asks Oyuki to pose for a portrait in his studio. They quickly fall in love, to the displeasure of Oyuki’s brother, who is intent on marrying Oyuki to a wealthy Japanese executive. Oyuki escapes and marries Irving, and together they have a daughter, but eventually Oyuki’s brother finds them and kills Irving. Oyuki is blamed for her husband’s murder and ends up in prison, from where she is released fifteen years later, at which point she travels to England for an emotional reunion with her estranged daughter. As a young boy I was not allowed to watch soap operas, but every night I managed to sneak out and join my grandmother, who at that time was living with us and who would not miss an episode of Oyuki’s story. Sneaking out like that was something I had done before, for other soap operas, but El pecado de Oyuki was unlike anything I (or anyone else, for that matter) had ever seen. It was an elaborate and expensive production, certainly by the standards of the time. Televisa’s set designers had built replicas of a temple and of several streets from the Ginza district in Tokyo on the foothills of an extinct volcano in the Ajusco, a mountain range south of Mexico City. Wigs, kimonos, and fans were imported from Japan, makeup artists and dance teachers were flown in, and a Mexican crew traveled to Tokyo to shoot footage of the city’s streets at night. It’s an important chapter in the history of the soap opera genre in Latin America, and in the still unwritten history of Orientalism in the region. It’s been more than thirty since the final episode aired, but I still remember it vividly. Not long ago, I decided to watch the whole thing again, pausing to photograph the screen as I went along. I approached these sessions as an experiment, at once alchemical and philological. I was returning to a stream of images that had made a profound impression on me, and I was doing so with the express intention of transforming it into something else. I wanted to produce, out of each individual image, a different image, to alienate each image from itself. At the same time, I wanted also to produce a redundancy. I was not, in short, after a ‘new’ image. The aim of the photographic capture was not to release an unforeseen possibility, an image unlike any image anyone else might have seen before, and which I could therefore claim as ‘mine.’ If I say the experiment had a philological dimension, it is because of my interest in pastiche, which in this case was nothing more, and nothing less, than an attempt to teach myself to speak a dead language, one that is already part of the history of photography: the are-bure-boke (grainy, blurry, and out-of-focus) language that would become emblematic of post-war Japanese photography. It was by chance that, not long after I was finished, I came upon an article buried inside an old Mexican newspaper. It reported that El pecado de Oyuki had been hugely successful in Japan, and that after the final episode had aired, Ana Martín, the actress who played Oyuki, had been contacted by members of the “highest echelons” of Japanese society—including, it was rumored, Emperor Hirohito himself. They wanted to invite her to Tokyo, to congratulate her personally on her “flawless” portrayal of a Japanese geisha. 45°04'13.1"N / 7°41'12.8"E https://vanginhovenrey.info/45-04-13-1-N-7-41-12-8-E Sat, 08 Nov 2025 01:48:09 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/45-04-13-1-N-7-41-12-8-E <img width="2000" height="1479" width_o="2000" height_o="1479" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/13f5073bf07ae7a352c67a30339276aedb5cb49ec7e75e8781213856c936ba85/Ariadne.jpg" data-mid="240387783" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/13f5073bf07ae7a352c67a30339276aedb5cb49ec7e75e8781213856c936ba85/Ariadne.jpg" /> 45°04'13.1"N7°41'12.8"E3 Jan 1889Inkjet on metallic paper The geographical coordinates listed in the title of this work correspond to the city of Turin in northern Italy. The date refers to the day when the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who was living in Turin at the time, saw a horse being whipped by his coachman, an event that is said to have precipitated his descent into madness. The coordinates and the date were used to simulate the sun’s passage over a 3D model of an antique statue of a sleeping Ariadne, a Greek mythological figure who, as the wife of Dionysus, plays a crucial role in Nietzsche’s thought. The work brings together three screen captures, corresponding to the hours of dawn, noon, and dusk. Opera Omnia https://vanginhovenrey.info/Opera-Omnia Sun, 05 Jul 2020 19:00:39 +0000 Christopher van Ginhoven Rey https://vanginhovenrey.info/Opera-Omnia Opera Omnia&nbsp;(2019) <img width="4688" height="3388" width_o="4688" height_o="3388" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/504684721b2a8acb0110b79cbbb36bc44b4018f46fbb3cc4bcb106cd9e90eb0b/002-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543293" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/504684721b2a8acb0110b79cbbb36bc44b4018f46fbb3cc4bcb106cd9e90eb0b/002-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia. Installation view. <img width="5319" height="3860" width_o="5319" height_o="3860" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/439d585099c36728f081214d22a2f28c741b95bc3ff4fffb6d589b4562c865c3/003-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543294" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/439d585099c36728f081214d22a2f28c741b95bc3ff4fffb6d589b4562c865c3/003-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Marbleized Fragment, 500% (2019). Inkjet print. <img width="3776" height="5920" width_o="3776" height_o="5920" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/89137ccfd9be228201178fb42bb9aee997cdf8b2a98c6447394b17fae98b108c/006-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543296" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/89137ccfd9be228201178fb42bb9aee997cdf8b2a98c6447394b17fae98b108c/006-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia. Installation view. <img width="3392" height="5391" width_o="3392" height_o="5391" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/77bd31e05033610206b77d41026494a4b4d65909cb01576b726c7f40e38c7185/007-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543297" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/77bd31e05033610206b77d41026494a4b4d65909cb01576b726c7f40e38c7185/007-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Summa pornographica (2019). Gold-leafed pubic hair on jewelry box. <img width="4944" height="3335" width_o="4944" height_o="3335" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ed0cb945239be7adeb6eb438f477793357eb34c0ae95f7c96e389c5f3716a7b/008-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543298" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ed0cb945239be7adeb6eb438f477793357eb34c0ae95f7c96e389c5f3716a7b/008-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Writing Lesson (2019).&nbsp;Felt-tip marker and color pencil on plaster. <img width="5900" height="3898" width_o="5900" height_o="3898" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/84179b42d429a0e2ee710d488ee23c6e288d2660aec99338aed559ca09e70d15/009-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543299" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/84179b42d429a0e2ee710d488ee23c6e288d2660aec99338aed559ca09e70d15/009-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia. Installation view. <img width="5400" height="7200" width_o="5400" height_o="7200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c9e5bf9b02f4d6083af40ef736be58c2f01067a59f1079eb58d962ea70c32b7/011-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543301" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8c9e5bf9b02f4d6083af40ef736be58c2f01067a59f1079eb58d962ea70c32b7/011-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia, Vol. 1, Waterfalls, pp. 36-47 (Study for OOV1Wpp36-47.jpg) (2019). Toner and red marker on gray paper mounted on crushed velvet paper. <img width="3791" height="5796" width_o="3791" height_o="5796" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/469b0da1b384872479d32d99499979353892ebc8748e8d9f622ed426eebb7861/012-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543302" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/469b0da1b384872479d32d99499979353892ebc8748e8d9f622ed426eebb7861/012-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia, Vol. 1, Waterfalls, pp. 12-13, VERSO/RECTO (2019).&nbsp;Black marker, acrylic, toner, and bronze cable chain on raw canvas. <img width="4267" height="3184" width_o="4267" height_o="3184" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aa2074ebe713b4305a3ca27bd174d5bd2e841f013c40e52b6cde11865a0aad23/013-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543303" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aa2074ebe713b4305a3ca27bd174d5bd2e841f013c40e52b6cde11865a0aad23/013-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia. Installation view. <img width="3476" height="5078" width_o="3476" height_o="5078" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8cbf647683e82f7f3111074dc231ddcff40ca3fdfcc9b268d37c35c8cdb85d75/014-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543304" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8cbf647683e82f7f3111074dc231ddcff40ca3fdfcc9b268d37c35c8cdb85d75/014-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Opera Omnia, Vol. 1, Waterfalls, pp. 12-13, VERSO/RECTO (2019) (detail). <img width="3666" height="5632" width_o="3666" height_o="5632" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eeff6f26107e67e82a6d7104bcd9d657ca3cada2ec0bb7d59393fa72d44e7aca/016-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543306" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eeff6f26107e67e82a6d7104bcd9d657ca3cada2ec0bb7d59393fa72d44e7aca/016-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> Study for a Chimera (Achille Leclere by Ingres [Naef, Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres, Cat. No. 89]) +&nbsp;International Male, Autumn 1991, French Chic, Activewear, Onionskins® Collection, p. 31&nbsp;(2019).&nbsp;Red pencil on onion-skin paper. <img width="5893" height="3987" width_o="5893" height_o="3987" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bc4e39578b394e64248f5b4e17186cbd9bf71f29784c6d7cfc751bf68f9695d5/019-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543307" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bc4e39578b394e64248f5b4e17186cbd9bf71f29784c6d7cfc751bf68f9695d5/019-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> The book should, by correspondences, institute a play of elements that confirms the fiction (2019).&nbsp;Packing tape, clear tape, masking tape, paper tape, gold and bronze cable chain, muslin, inkjet and toner prints on newsprint, custom-built lamp. <img width="2933" height="4386" width_o="2933" height_o="4386" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/481310b51b954a23bcffcabb7a6a97b84c6331c60af6dab1b4c9eedc7a940a63/020-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543308" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/481310b51b954a23bcffcabb7a6a97b84c6331c60af6dab1b4c9eedc7a940a63/020-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> The book should, by correspondences, institute a play of elements that confirms the fiction (detail). <img width="3836" height="5825" width_o="3836" height_o="5825" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6fc2ae4ed30aca4f98e9eeb96d1e73838c1f1d2ba9cc89ebb7f176d59ecd6f60/021-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543309" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6fc2ae4ed30aca4f98e9eeb96d1e73838c1f1d2ba9cc89ebb7f176d59ecd6f60/021-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> The book should, by correspondences, institute a play of elements that confirms the fiction (detail). <img width="3056" height="4814" width_o="3056" height_o="4814" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/75e71fcb1b0c5cd435234b3831e0415c8f526eddf01c2bdeeb13bed8d7aff020/022-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543310" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/75e71fcb1b0c5cd435234b3831e0415c8f526eddf01c2bdeeb13bed8d7aff020/022-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> The book should, by correspondences, institute a play of elements that confirms the fiction (detail). <img width="6016" height="4016" width_o="6016" height_o="4016" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fdb7f65706af795af3a1ff47b4d0f799e58f6a46184a27a7f1ced89f447b9389/023-OO-CvGR.jpg" data-mid="76543311" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fdb7f65706af795af3a1ff47b4d0f799e58f6a46184a27a7f1ced89f447b9389/023-OO-CvGR.jpg" /> The book should, by correspondences, institute a play of elements that confirms the fiction (detail). Opera Omnia Opera Omnia, the title of Christopher van Ginhoven Rey’s exhibition, is a Latin phrase used to refer to an edition of a writer’s complete works. It’s a strange choice for a title, and maybe even something of a joke, as it is plainly at odds with what is on display in the exhibition space of The Tack Room: not just a very small number of works (too small, it would seem, to stand for someone’s total output) but also nothing that resembles what we have come to associate with a writer’s actual output. Pages scattered across the floor or arranged in a grid; a framed close-up of the marbleized paper that used to line the covers of bound volumes; empty surfaces bisected in ways that evoke the division between the verso and the recto sides of a page: if there is a book here—and the artist insists that there is—it exists only as a series of isolated fragments. It is nothing more, and nothing less, than an idea, an effect of the labyrinth of correspondences and reflections that van Ginhoven Rey has carefully constructed. A framed panel resting at the center of the gallery’s main wall provides a point of entry into this labyrinth. Titled Opera Omnia, Vol. 1, Waterfalls, pp. 36-47 (Study for OOV1Wpp36-47.jpg), it consists of a grid showing what would appear to be a selection of six two-page spreads (corresponding to the numbers in the title) of an actual book. Mounted on a sheet of black crushed-velvet paper, the spreads present six tightly cropped oval-shaped sections of various images of waterfalls, collected by the artist over years of scouring the media collections discarded by libraries. The arrangement mimes the display of digitized books—and in fact, as the title suggests, the panel is part of the preparatory work for an image that will exist in JPEG form. In thus reversing the trajectory that a work is conventionally expected to follow—from a concept developed with the aid of digital tools to a concrete instantiation in the real world—the artist makes it clear that his interest is in the book as, first and foremost, something to be imagined. At the same time, this emulation of digital space is a way for van Ginhoven Rey to establish a dialogue with reflections on the book from the more distant past, among them those by the French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, whose interest in “the parallelism of pages” becomes a point of departure for other works in the exhibition. Thus, in Opera Omnia, Vol. 1, Waterfalls, pp. 12-13, VERSO/RECTO, a bronze cable chain draped over a canvas divides a rectangular surface into two parallel planes. The line traced by this chain will travel outside of the canvas and up and down the gallery’s main wall, before disappearing into a crack on the cement floor. It is possible to read this disappearance as a self-concious enactment of a pervasive concern with emptiness, already implicit in the oval frame that makes an appearance throughout the exhibition space. Morphologically related to the letter “O” traced with marker on a raw plaster surface in Writing Lesson (in imitation of the sheets used to teach children how to write in cursive script), the oval can be read as a kind of stand-in for a “zero,” and thus as a shape where the abstraction of language yields to the even more radical abstraction of number: an apt cipher, in short, for the process of rarefaction at work in the attempt to construct something that shall exist primarily as an idea. In a text accompanying the exhibition, the artist speaks of this rarefaction in terms of a broader interest in the transformative power of absence. There is no parallelism without a gap in between, and as van Ginhoven Rey suggests, this kind of empty space is bound to introduce the risk of something strange and unexpected making its way into any system. In Opera omnia, an exhibition marked by a strong conceptual orientation, the role of this alterity would seem to fall to the vagaries of sexual (and specifically homosexual) fantasy. Or, even more to the point, to a form of homosexual fantasy that is entangled, in ways that are often humorous, in a network of explicit and implicit art-historical allusions. A gold-leafed strand of pubic hair nestled in a jewelry box (Summa pornographica) faces a delicate drawing, on a sheet onion-skin paper, that combines the body of a model for the Onionskins® brand of running shorts (found in a 1991 edition of the International Male clothing catalogue) with a face by Ingres. Together with the images of waterfalls printed cheaply on sheets of newsprint and with the light issuing from a lamp pieced together by the artist in a small room off of the main gallery, these intimations of a body and of sexual desire may invoke the name of Duchamp (who made work out of his own obsession with Ingres) and the enigmatic and sinister situation of his Étant donnés. Previous projects by van Ginhoven Rey have explored what he likes to refer to as the “citation compulsion.” In Opera Omnia, citations are like the fragments of a shattered mirror that the artist is intent on reconstructing, perhaps with the hope of being able to gaze at an unbroken image of his own fetishistic passions. —Tatsuo Watanabe