Peles Empire @ Sierra Metro

Not often do you see contemporary art and marvel at its opulence – artists today are an ascetic bunch. Peles Empire, the ongoing project by Katharina Stoever and Barbara Wolff, is an anomaly in this respect: one reviewer described it as “so rich and lovely it’s hard to look at”, with a “teeth-gnashing shimmer”.

Peles, the Romanian castle of clashing architectural styles and lavish ornamentation after which the project is named, provides the artists’ source material. So far they’ve reproduced nine of its rooms, wallpapering exhibition spaces with A3 colour copies of photographs of its interiors.

This show at Sierra Metro marks their shift to 3D. The seven sculptures are based partly on objects found in the castle and partly on images they’ve created previously. One references an alabaster statue of Carmen Sylva (alias Queen Elisabeth of Romania), the cracks in the surface suggesting marble veining. Its low plinth displays images of the statue itself, enlarged so the veins are pixelated. Another sculpture consists of a fire hose wrapped around a Persian carpet, supporting a handmade ceramic nozzle.

Unlike the wallpaper, the sculptures effect no simulation of architectural space. They remain sculptures, not furnishings. Their arrangement, we are told, reflects the order in which the objects are encountered on a tour of the castle – a further complication to the concept of reproduction, but its relevance to the context of Sierra Metro seems unsatisfying.

Where the wallpaper transformed the space, the sculptures are self-contained. And if you’ve ever seen images of the wallpapered rooms, you want that richness. Long deprived of any of that teeth-gnashing action, white cube patrons are gagging for some gaudy colour and frivolous ornamentation. Well, you won’t get your fix at this show. But the overall project is pretty incredible.