As much as the cat enters forbidden territories and thereby may get its paws burnt, art trespasses frontiers: It searches and discovers new ideas, addresses unpleasant issues and amazes its audience. The works presented in the group show by our gallery artists all reveal their very own moments of surprise diversely expressed in film, photography, painting, and sculpture.
Lars Breuer (*1974 in Aachen, lives and works in Cologne)
Kept in gold and chrome, the diptych “To the Happy Few | Diamant (Diamond)“ by Lars Breuer stands out through its pure elegance and formal reduction. Apart from the precise use of forms, the combination of image and text made of a typography developed by the artist himself is characteristic of his works. The statement “To the happy few” which refers to both exclusivity and exclusion is not only known from the novels of French author Stendhal (Henri Marie Beyle), but may be read as a sarcastic comment on the art market.
Anja Buchheister (*1978 in Wolfenbüttel, lives and works in Munich)
Great beauty and poetry unravels in the branches which Anja Buchheister chose as her main topic for “Species IV.a (I-III)“. At the same time, the net of twigs symbolizes a microcosm consisting of promising paths, but also wrong tracks. The visual means the artist uses may be seen as a hint that disorientation and tripping hazards cannot be prevented: The three-dimensional twigs reaching into the photographic space could easily cause slipping and falling. In her works Anja Buchheister challenges common notions of image, space, and perspective and creates tension by oscillating between realism and illusion as well as the organic and artificial.
Nico Dockx (*1974 Ekeren/Antwerp, lives and works in Antwerp) – A DOG REPUBLIC
The mirror: a place of reflection, self-awareness and encounter with oneself and others. Where different projections interfere, an abstract dog figure inhabits the mirror surface of the work presented in the show. It related to the project A DOG REPUBLIC initiated in 2011 by artists Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, Nico Dockx, and Helena Sidiropoulos, architect Yona Friedman and musician Krist Torfs. Through diverse media the “dog collective” explores aspects of communication, interaction, and participation encouraging new viewing angles in an ongoing process.
Judith Egger (*1973, lives and works in Munich)
From the unpretentious wastes of a tumble dryer Judith Egger, who focuses on processes of transformation in various ways, has created a hilly landscape. Hardly noticeable a straw cross becomes visible. Is it a grave cross announcing the ultimate ending of all existence, or is it rather a summit cross inspiring physical and spiritual heights? Can the image even be understood as a metaphor of an unsteady art market, and which role plays the tempting keyhole which is unobtrusively positioned next to the main work? Will it be worthwhile to chance a look, or will a curious spirit be cruelly punished as it is the case in the tale of Bluebeard?
Susann Körner (*1972 in Schleswig-Holstein, lives and works in Hamburg)
During her wanderings through urban spaces Susann Körner explores everyday phenomena capturing these in photographs and text works. Her unusual shots of transient moments challenge the borders between the real and the imagined thereby letting new places of the in between evolve. As much as in her photo work “behind” draws the attention to the eyes of an Asian woman that seems to look over a wall, as ambiguous are the “Welten (Worlds)” gathering in the counter piece. Susann Körner is interested in “the moment of surprise, of poetry, the moment of abeyance. Will the one who looks too deep get lost? Will the one who delves too deeply fail?”
Anna McCarthy (*1981, currently lives and works in Los Angeles)
“FASSBINDER IN LALALAND – a real fake documentary“, made for the Fassbinder Festival Munich, focuses on the „enfant terrible“ of the German film in a humorously exaggerated way. In this video, after his death the director has found shelter at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, which is also Anna McCarthy’s current place of residence. The artist not only embodies the controversial filmmaker, but furthermore plays an ambitious journalist and a celebrity-hunting tour guide. Artistic vision, star hype, media frenzy, and surveillance are intertwined into a bizarre scenario which reveals numerous references to Fassbinder’s persona and work. Naturally, this might raise questions regarding possible analogies to Anna McCarthy who often deals with cliché notions of the rebel.
Peggy Meinfelder (*1975 in Hildburghausen/Thuringia, lives and works in Munich)
“A building of magnetic appearance in the style of a cultic site” – this is how Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati describes his proposal for the Art Museum of the 21st Century in Perm, Russia, which Peggy Meinfelder puts in the center of her collage. The price-winning concept has not been realized, but received international acclaim. Inspired by stave churches and Russian ornamentation, Olgiati has transferred architectural traditions into a contemporary art context. Peggy Meinfelder continues with the approach of re-interpreting existing symbols by imaging the fictitious building as a fruit bowl.
Clea Stracke (*1982 in Berlin) & Verena Seibt (*1980 in Dachau)
(The artists live and work in Munich and Cologne)
In an highly evocative manner the artistic interventions by Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt deal with ideas of perception. They take on the idea of CURIOSITY KILLS THE CAT in the shape of a cattail moving in slow motion. It not only stands out through its formal language and aesthetics, but strangelyseems to lead an independent existence. What the cattail is up to, remains open. Similarly, sheets blowing in the wind, as shown in a further projection, convey a feeling of uncertainty, possibly even danger. After Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt have explored mechanisms of collapse in their last exhibition at Esther Donatz Gallery, as part of a third minimalist intervention they have now covered the cracked gallery floor barely noticeable with a “healing” cover of grass.
Allard van Hoorn (*1968 in Leiden/Netherlands, lives and works in Brooklyn)
In Allard van Hoorn’s work „Wet Soil“ a specific scent becomes a trigger of memories. In collaboration with a perfume maker, the artist has created a fragrance that imitates the smell of being in a forest after rain. In a subtle performative act, in which the carrier of the fragrance reflects on own memories of such moments, a dialog with the audience evolves. Apart from the reception and contextualization of places, issues of sensory perception – whether on an audiovisual level or related to the scent – are one focus of Allard van Hoorn’s artistic work.
Veronika Veit (*1968 in Munich, lives and works in Munich)
Faceless and reduced to their upper bodies, the protagonists in Veronika Veit’s installation “Is this a test?” appear to be both isolated and alienated. A whispering female voice enhances the uneasy mood: “Are we in danger? Listen! We are in danger. We gotta get out of here!” Although these quotes from disaster movies hint at emergency situations, Veronika Veit makes the idea of rescue the main topic of this work. Thereby, she foremost questions the confidence authorities and governments enjoy during periods of political, economic, and humanitarian conflicts. The ongoing rotation of the helmeted figures suggests that a rescue may not be in sight for a long time.
Contact
Esther Donatz
esther(at)galeriedonatz.de
Nadine Seligmann
nadine(at)galeriedonatz.de
Phone: +49 89 70 07 62 0 |