1970s art guru Matta-Clark's Splitting: His most impressive work
Fisun Guner|Metro5 April 2012
The Weekender

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Central to the New York art scene of the 1970s, Gordon Matta-Clark was a chief figure in dispensing with the gallery and interacting with the city to create a public, street art. In his famous 'building cuts', he turned buildings up for demolition into monumental sculptures, revealing the negative spaces in between their visible structures.

This exhibition of grainy, mostly black and white photos and videos (from May 15 a selection of short films will also be shown) reminds us just how influential Matta-Clark continues to be, foreshadowing artists such as Rachel Whiteread.

The most impressive work here is Splitting, a series of photographs of a house severed in two, one half tilting at a five-degree angle. Shafts of sunlight become part of the work, turning into sculptural elements in their own right.

Also striking is Conical Intersection, in which circular holes slice through two houses in Les Halles, Paris, creating a cone through which one can view the construction of the Pompidou Centre. (Knowing the buildings are 17th-century townhouses, it's also difficult not to feel some sense of regret, despite the fact that they were for due for demolition.)

Outside the Architectural Association's gallery, amid the Georgian elegance of Bedford Square, a squat wall of impacted garbage has been built, replicating Matta-Clark's Garbage Wall. But it lacks the resonance of the photographs, the rough and ready prototype.

  • Until May 30, Architectural Association, 36 Bedford Square, Mon to Fri 10am to 7pm, Sat 10am to 3pm, free. Tel: 020 7636 0974. www.aaschool.ac.uk Tube: Tottenham Court Road

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