In The Beholder artist Julie Wolfe and PAN have partnered with photographers, writers and artists working in a wide range of disciplines to tell the story of the Rococo era as a reflection on contemporary life, its excesses, carelessness, political unrest and increasing wealth inequity. This choreographed interplay of public and personal fictions together with the strange passion for self-escape, they believe, is at the heart of the Rococo period.
We might recall the Rococo by its trifles: rose-coloured macarons, powdered cheeks, everything tied up in bows. We think less of the fear that trembled beneath this surface, the blistering friction of their glossy world pressed up against the air of unrest outside. It appears, as the mirror of history reflects Rococo back to us, that the tender and sickly sweet detail of the period stood at odds with its gruesome end. But when Robespierre walked through the wreckage of the monarchy with murderous lust, onlookers reported that the buttons of his coat were engraved with miniature golden guillotines.
This large format book presents a trove of curiosities through lift out, full page spreads that hold their own rich meaning. But together, and especially as they are partially concealed by folding, one finds an even more enchanting conversation awaits. The artwork and imagery and the relationships to each other become at once half of themselves and something else entirely when bound together in this way. A physical and metaphysical meeting in the middle that tumbles back and forth, teasing a universe of appreciation if one simply turns the pages and wishes to see.
