Audrey Large began collaborating with Nilufar in 2019 as part of the FAR program curated by Studio Vedèt. After her debut in FAR’s group show, in 2021 Large presented her work in a small solo exhibition, “Some Vibrant Things”, at the spaces
of via della Spiga. She continues to have a close and fruitful relationship with Nilufar, which has presented her work at fairs and museums, as well as commissioned site-specific projects.
On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, Nilufar will dedicate the spaces of the so-called “Palcoscenico” to Large for her most extensive solo exhibition in the gallery to date. The exhibition, orchestrated side by side with Nina Yashar, is an explosion, even in terms of size, of the research undertaken by the artist and presented by the gallery over the years.
The centerpiece of the installation is a gigantic sculpture that Large made for this exhibition over a period of time by interlocking existing pieces into the flow of new, mesmerizing forms. Reiteration and translation from format to format are part of her practice, which has walked the tightrope between real and digital since the beginning.
In her working method, the distinction between real and digital is irrelevant and negligible. The digital files that determine the CNC production of 3D-printed objects—she argues—are not inferior to the physical objects themselves. On the contrary: the files are perhaps even more material, as matter in the making, layered and full of potential.
In her practice, the transition between “digital” and “material” occurs seamlessly: “I render these files into digital images that I print on paper, export them and also print them in 3D, then I draw the 3D printed object on paper, create a new 3D model from the same elements, draw it again and reprint it again in 3D. This arbitrary and liberating sequence does not seem to detect boundaries between real and virtual, between what is, physically, and what merely appears.”
