Continuing and expanding upon the narrative arc of Anne Imhof’s recent exhibitions, the works in Avatar II interweave notions of reality and artifice, presence and absence, exposure and concealment.

In the first show to span all four of the London gallery's floors, the works range from oil paintings, large-scale paintings on aluminum panels, and drawings to film and sound works. Fitness equipment and gym furniture are installed throughout the gallery, blurring the boundaries between functional object and art while creating a multilayered experience as visitors encounter and move through Imhof's abundant spaces.

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 400 cm
78 3/4 × 157 1/2 inches

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 400 cm
78 3/4 × 157 1/2 inches

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 400 cm
78 3/4 × 157 1/2 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022

Anne Imhof
Pacific, 2022

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Imhof's spatial orchestrations are evident from the outset: as visitors approach the exhibition from street level, their line of sight into the gallery's glass storefront is delimited, boxed in by rows of lockers and blocked in part by the back of one of Imhof’s aluminum panel works suspended unexpectedly from the ceiling. Just below this hanging panel, at the back of the room, one catches a glimpse of a painting depicting Imhof's collaborator Eliza Douglas.

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022
Oil on canvas
180 × 390 cm
70 7/8 × 153 1/2 inches

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022
Oil on canvas
180 × 390 cm
70 7/8 × 153 1/2 inches

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022
Oil on canvas
180 × 390 cm
70 7/8 × 153 1/2 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022

Anne Imhof
Jester, 2022

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The image is captured from a performance last year as part of Imhof's celebrated exhibition Natures Mortes at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Walking deliberately, her torso nude, she has obscured her face with a sinister clown T-shirt pulled over her head, taking on the guise of a jester. A rare figurative painting in Imhof's oeuvre, this work sets a tone of beauty, imagined dystopia and foreboding that frequently accompanies the artist's work.

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth I, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth I, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth I, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth I, 2022

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth I, 2022

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022

Anne Imhof
Pacific, end of truth VIII, 2022

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Imhof’s experimental, restrained approach to installation unfolds further in the subsequent galleries by creating a labyrinthine network with monochromatic banks of gym lockers.

On the one hand these structures create rooms and passageways for the spectator, with benches that encourage rest and contemplation; on the other, they bar entry and connote the secreting of objects and information, while also suggesting the presence bodies and physical exertion

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

 

Another monumental, multi-panel canvas occupies an adjacent room depicting an explosion, and like the portrait of Douglas, it features a three-dimensional effect new to Imhof's painting practice. Though at first the image appears realistically rendered in grayscale, a closer look reveals fields of pale red and greens, as well as the flattened 3D effect—imagery all painted by hand, but generated digitally.

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022
Oil on canvas
289.5 × 608.8 cm
114 × 239 3/4 inches

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022
Oil on canvas
289.5 × 608.8 cm
114 × 239 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022
Oil on canvas
289.5 × 608.8 cm
114 × 239 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022

Anne Imhof
Cloud II, 2022

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 270 cm
106 1/4 × 78 3/4 inches

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With their tones of cool blue-greens, the paintings likewise guide viewers along Imhof's immersive path, in which a productive confusion arises between art, objects and architectural elements.

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 270 cm
106 1/4 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022
Acrylic on aluminum
200 × 270 cm
106 1/4 × 78 3/4 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022

Anne Imhof
Monster III, 2022

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With their tones of cool blue-greens, the paintings likewise guide viewers along Imhof's immersive path, in which a productive confusion arises between art, objects and architectural elements.

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

 

The physical, "real" presence of the lockers and benches is rendered surreal and abstract in a new film debuting within the exhibition. Douglas appears again, this time occupying an amorphous space as she sits and stands surrounded by one of the locker-room benches and a row of lockers. The film's backdrop shifts between abstracted fields of color and light. Though bodies are mostly absent in Imhof's artworks—which often imply potential sites for performances—in this case the human body is fully present and the background is what becomes nebulous and intangible. This aspect of the film also serves as a metaphor for Imhof's approach more broadly: to deploy specific, precise objects and imagery that nevertheless project a universal, expansive realm for imagination.

 

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022
Video, color, sound
32:21 min

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022
Video, color, sound
32:21 min

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022
Video, color, sound
32:21 min

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022 (video still)

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022 (video still)

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022 (video still)

Anne Imhof
Avatar, 2022 (video still)

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Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
26 × 18 cm
10 1/4 × 7 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

Further revealing Imhof's sensitive use of space and the human form are a selection of drawings, in which spare, purposeful lines delineate attenuated bodies in motion. Artworks in their own right, the drawings can also be understood as preparatory gestures for future performances, which, like her objects and installations, Imhof carefully plans in tune with the spaces they occupy.

In this exhibition, as in the artist's work as a whole, Imhof masters space and builds expectations for the viewer, only to twist and sabotage any clear-cut interpretations of her immersive, unnerving and powerful environments.

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Details
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
26 × 18 cm
10 1/4 × 7 inches

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
26 × 18 cm
10 1/4 × 7 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

Details
icon_fullscreen
1 of 3

Further revealing Imhof's sensitive use of space and the human form are a selection of drawings, in which spare, purposeful lines delineate attenuated bodies in motion. Artworks in their own right, the drawings can also be understood as preparatory gestures for future performances, which, like her objects and installations, Imhof carefully plans in tune with the spaces they occupy.

In this exhibition, as in the artist's work as a whole, Imhof masters space and builds expectations for the viewer, only to twist and sabotage any clear-cut interpretations of her immersive, unnerving and powerful environments.

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

image/svg+xml
Details
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
31 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Not yet titled, 2022
Pencil on paper
29.5 × 41.5 cm
11 5/8 × 16 3/8 inches

Details
icon_fullscreen
1 of 2
Anne Imhof – Avatar II – London

All installation views: Ben Westoby