quelle heure est il au paradis - Artists Anonymous Vernissage: 12.2.2010, 6-9pm Exhibition duration: 13.2. - 25.4.2010
The gallery presents an important artistic position in the current international discourse: new works by Artists Anonymous (AA). AA is a group of artists working both in London and in Berlin, whose members, as the name implies, prefer to remain anonymous. They create together. Only the work of art is of importance, not the individual input. In principle this is a logical approach and is wonderfully refreshing, since the main focus when viewing art should be on the work itself and not the artist producing it. However this is a deliberate questioning of the contemporary cult-like status of artists, which often distracts from issues of content. The attitude off AA towards art has traditional roots: AA constitutes something like a mediaeval artist’s studio: it’s all about art and nothing else.
AA’s self-understanding, however, is very contemporary and expands beyond the notion of the artist’s studio: Everybody concerned with the artistic output and this includes both the creation of visions and translation into the art work itself, is, at least for a moment, part of AA. This seems to be another example of the maxim of Joseph Beuys, that everybody is an artist. In the image / after-image series, the diptychs which play with the positive and negative, reflections of painting become artistic form, especially in relation to pictorialness and the perception of the viewer. Negative images, like negatives in analogue photography, have been around for a considerable time and examples could also be seen in modern painting. The beholder's fascination is generated by the vibrant, brilliant colour and almost bizarre like quality. The deliberate renunciation of everyday appearance raises the issue of perception and the myriad influences that contribute to our "beholding" an object. It is as if there is a connection with the "inner library", our imaginary museum, in the form of a negative (in photography). Fascinating in itself, is that the negative, allows for poetic discourse or fantasy to infuse the negative replication of the original scene or painting. It is as if another world is contained within what was originally perceived to be the "real" world. This contributes to the fascination or excitement generated by the work of AA – the marriage of the negative images together with their positive counterparts, which either functions as a diptych or as individual works. When seen as a diptych however, there is an inherent dialogue that is generated and this in itself is important or central to the work of AA. The intended oscillation seen in comparative vision makes the beholder understand and experience the paintings, which, sometimes, via their motifs, reinforce insight into perception and its process, also when the motif is a quote from art history. "All the world’s a stage" (Shakespeare, As You Like It, Jacques’s monologue) is the background of the paintings showing a stage. They do not, as it were, constitute stage painting, although they may contain images of stage paintings. The situations presented are more absurd than the ones we know from Beckett or Ionesco, yet we experience them as reality. However Butour perception of reality is the image and our imagination that helps interpret the above. Meta-levels arise, a multi-dimensional expansion of the field of experience: From negative to positive, to comparison, to historical context and the influence of these on each other. The possibility of linking everything to everything else, demands an organising vision, to combine the artistic interpretation of the world contained in the paintings with an application of one’s own – to become, so to say, a part of AA.
Globalised nature Group exhibition
with So Young Park, Matthew Carver, Achim Riethmann, Maslen & Mehra, Ina Viola Blasius and Edgar Martins
An international group show brings together international emerged artists and newcomers in a show about nature and urbanisation. Six artists explore the subject of nature and urbanity in today’s setting. The international artistic position of artists from internationally diverse regions displays an impressive mixture of minimalism and pop art. The exhibition starting on 12th Feb. at Galerie Caprice Horn, could hardly be more manifold and diverse. Interesting in particular are themes such as gene technology, nanotechnology, molecular technology, – disciplines that dominate our globalised world. Nature seems to take a dispassionate wait and see attitude towards the manoeuverings and manipulations of the human species. In the dichotomy of man and nature, reference is often made to an idealized portrayal of landscapes et al, that define our world view. An idealized perspective manifests itself in the installation by Ina Viola Blasius. The 2.5 meter installation reverses the relationship of man and nature. Here the grass is over dimensional, man at best a diminutive appearance. The student of Anthony Cragg, rectifies this situation in her second installation “cat and mouse”. In contrast we have a callous but sensitive portrayal of man versus nature in Achim Riethmann’s work. The recently awarded “Art and Prison” prize winner, uses the tradition of panel painting for his watercolours to portray researchers in their white uniforms that attempt to iconographically confront themselves with subjects such as conception, life and death, and bring these into perspective. The London born 31 year old Riethmann delivers a contrast to internationally renown and celebrated Edgar Martins. The Macau born Martins constructs the unobtainable space in his Accidental Theorist series. One is reminded of Marcel Proust “the true paradise is the paradise which we have lost”. With his unusual work Martins has been exhibited at PS1, acquired by the Victoria and Albert museum and is due to be shown at the Caloust Gulbenkian foundation later this year. Matthew Carver who is equally successful and topical, is represented in numerous collections including Saatchi and London Museum collection. The 44 year old Carver is a forerunner with his portrayal of a constructed reality similar to that seen in Ridley Scott’s blade runner. His contribution to the group show links thematically to his floating world exhibition in the London Museum which received numerous accolades. Maslen & Mehra are also concerned with the perception of cultural spaces. The artists Tim Maslen and Jennifer Mehra describe the tension between urbanity and nature very successfully in their photo collages. The arranged portrayal of a roman next to a punk or an astronaut next to a Neanderthal shows the versatility of the artists who work with ornaments, disused objects, drawings, photography etc, into symbolic collages reminiscent of a new surrealism. Somewhat in contrast is the work of So Young Park. Her large scale paintings in the context of the exhibition sharpen the perspective on a fast, furious and ephemeral pop culture. The artist, a pupil of Daniel Richter uses pop art as her artistic medium.
Artists exhibited: Khaled Hafez Edgar Martins Bernardí Roig Inci Eviner Stehn Raupach Democracia Daniel Canogar Mitra Tabrizian Daniel & Geo Fuchs Artists Anonymous Alona Harpaz
Other exhibitions & events
Daniel Canogar "Daniel Canogar and Stephen Dean: Process in dialogue" Curator: Cecilia Andersson Koldo Mitxelena San Sebastian, Spain until 25.02.2010
"Atopia" Curator: Iván de la Nuez CCCB – Centro de Cultura Contemporanea, Barcelona, Spain 23.2. – 24.5.2010
Julia Fullerton-Batten "Dreamlands" Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France with Ed Ruscha, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr 5.5. – 9.8.2010
Sunil Gupta "Self and the Other" Artium of Alava Foundation, Spain until 7.2.2010
"Love’s Body 2 – Sexuality in the age of AIDS" Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan 2.9. – 5.12.2010
Democracia X Bienal Martínez Guerricabeitia "Contra natura" Museo de la Ciudad de Valencia, Spain
"Against Public" Miró Foundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain starting: 20.4.2010
Khaled Hafez "Tarjama/Translation" The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca (NY), USA 21.8. – 24.9.2010
"Unerwartet / Unexpected: From Islamic Art to Contemporary Art" (Von der islamischen Kunst zur zeitgenössischen Kunst) Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany 12.6. – 10.10.2010
Cairo Biennale 2010 Dec. 2010 – Jan. 2011
Edgar Martins Solo show at Centre Culturel Caloust Gulbenkian, Paris starting: 19.11.2010
Further information can be obtained from Galerie Caprice Horn All images are courtesy of Galerie Caprice Horn
