Kaari Upson: Never Enough

Turning the familiar and the mundane into your subject matter is nothing new for contemporary artists. Kaari Upson, however, took reality and pushed the very concept to its limits - a feat nothing short of admirable. By developing her own latex-moulding technique, she ended up with the concept of the “skin of the real” and a myriad of artworks originating from mattresses and other everyday objects. Eternal, stuck in limbo, these replicated items remain unchanged; a perfect approximation twisted beyond recognition. Not only that, but she is a trickster too, playing with the perception of memory, both personal and public. In her most well-known work series, The Larry Project, Upson re-appropriated items from a John Doe’s abandoned property - whom she just called “Larry”. This is where the unsettling puppet-like figures that populate her work come from. 

DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art brings in over 30 pieces by Upson in a five-month-long exhibition that spans her entire career. A fitting in memoriam for Upson, who passed in 2021 at the age of 51, and an introduction to her work.