MICHAEL SAILSTORFER – HITZEFREI

Posted on 2017-03-06

Berlin-based artist Michael Sailstorfer presents two uniquely paired works — Brenner (2017), a new, large-scale sculptural installation, and the video Traenen (2015). Both works consider not only their relationship to one another, but above all their respective placement within the gallery, making full use of the distinctive spatial possibilities afforded by St. Agnes. In a characteristic manner, Sailstorfer’s works in Hitzefrei demonstrate his unique understanding of the vocabulary of sculpture, formalizing and transforming known materials or mechanical systems into objects that readily and thoughtfully transcend their original purpose. At once solemn and darkly humorous, these works are imbued with a captivating tension, hinting at notions of destruction, transformation, and change.

Exhibition runs through to March 12th, 2017

König Galerie
St. Agnes – Alexandrinenstr, 118-121
10969 Berlin

www.koeniggalerie.com

  

TOBIAS MADISON – CRISIS TOURISM

Posted on 2017-03-06

Tony Lewis’s practice focuses on the relationship between semiotics and language: graphite pencil and paper are the mediums the artist uses to trace and create abstract narratives and reflections on the notion of the gestural. When I Felt Like I Could Sing That, Then I Felt Like I Was In embodies the artists’ research for pure abstraction: tracing the conclusion of a research process that started in his earlier series of drawings titled Gregg Shorthand.
This new body of work, where graphite and coloured pencils generate impulsive and rhythmic shapes on paper, is intended by Lewis as a further exploration of the Gregg Shorthand system and its connection to sound, speech and pulse. In this series of drawings seemingly simple abstractions conceal intricate narratives, “beginning with a phoneme gesture as the systematic foundation (of the drawing), the coloured pencil works to support, react to, and riff off of the initial rhythm put forth by linguistic sound, creating a sequence of improvisation, and a diagram of cosmic libido.” Each drawing in the exhibition results as a take on planned yet raw abstraction. Fragments of phonetics and colour form a visual and musical composition of chatter and shapes, which merge together to offer a reflection on the convergence of sound, language and tones.

Opposite – Ts, Ts, Tsss, 2016

Exhibition runs through to April 8th, 2017

Massimo De Carlo
55 South Audley Street
London
W1K 2QH

www.massimodecarlo.com

  

FERNANDA GOMES

Posted on 2017-02-27

Alison Jacques Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition by renowned Brazilian artist Fernanda Gomes. Showing the most recent pieces of her investigation on painting, she will continue working in the gallery space for three weeks prior to the exhibition opening, using it as an extension of her studio. This will be the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, developing research that has been ongoing for over 30 years.

Fernanda Gomes’ work reveals a renewed focus on painting, questioning not only what defines a painting, but also what constitutes a painting exhibition and how we can experience it. The artist will compose and create dialogues between various autonomous pieces made of canvas, wood and paint. While colour may at first appear to be absent, by the exclusive use of white paint, the work challenges us to observe the subtle spectrum that informs our perception of colour. While recalling the geometry and modulated surfaces in the Brazilian Neo-Concrete movement of the 1960s, her work references the hundred-year-old history of the monochrome and abstraction.

Opposite – Untitled, 2017

Exhibition runs through to March 15th, 2017

Alison Jacques Gallery
16 – 18 Berners Street
London
W1T 3LN

www.alisonjacquesgallery.com

  

CASSILS – PHANTOM REVENANT

Posted on 2017-02-27

Illustrating the limits of endurance and empathy, interdisciplinary artist Cassils produces potent evidence of unseen violence while questioning the act of witnessing in contemporary media culture. The exhibition and its title, Phantom Revenant, speaks to the double invisibility of LGBTQI+ people across the world and the ways this violence is archived in public consciousness. Cassils exposes this timely concern through three works that aggressively bring cyclical forms of oppression, disregarded histories, and haunting realities to the forefront.

Challenging the audience’s ability to see while bringing an invisible history into focus, the performance Becoming An Image (2013–present) is a body-intensive attack on a 2,000 pound clay block. Performed in total darkness, Cassils is visible only through the flash of a camera that momentarily illuminates the scene and sears the assault into the viewer’s retinas as an afterimage. The corresponding sounds of physical exertion and exhaustion break through the darkness as abrupt reminders of Cassils presence. The camera’s flash not only illuminates Cassils’s confrontation, but the audience surrounding their assault as well. Cassils’s performance implicates each viewer as participant and turns the act of viewing into an ethical dilemma. This visceral exchange between the artist, audience, and clay monolith archives–through the act of collective witnessing and accumulated strikes upon the clay–an insistence of being seen.

Opposite – Becoming An Image Performance Still No. 4 (Edgy Woman Festival, Montreal), 2013

Exhibition runs through to April 29th, 2017

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
724 South 12th Street
Omaha
Nebraska
NE 68102

www.bemiscenter.org

  

MYTHICAL CREATURES

Posted on 2017-02-27

“Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another.” Joseph Campbell

Mythology has provided a means to bond society, a way to transmit history, and as vessels for important lessons, morals, and rules. Myths are prevalent in every civilization worldwide and remain an inspiration for the artist seeking to understand our shared humanity. ‘Mythical Creatures’ is an exhibition of original prints by members of Arizona Print Group. Utilising the vernacular of traditional and experimental printmaking the participating artists have created visual responses to this rich field of research. Developing from this exhibition will be a print exchange project between APG and Seacourt followed by artist exchange opportunities.

Exhibiting artists include: Jo Andersen, Josephine Gibbs-Archer, Donna Atwood, Stu Biscoe, Kimberley Boege, Donna Carver, Ashley B. Cranney, Betsy Dally, Christine Dawdy, Brenda Diller, Norma Galindo, Linda Haas, Jennifer Henry, Karen Hymer, Eric Hodgins, Marlys Kubicek, Maria Lynam, Paulette Olive, Ann Otis, Leslie Parsons, Donn Rawlings, Susan L. Ritter, Marjorie Rogers, Jean L. Rossman, Steve Straussner, Marika Szabo, Glory Tacheenie-Campoy, Joan Thompson, Robert Wilder, Mary Lou Wills and Wendy Willis.

Opposite – Joan Thompson, Janus and the Modern Era

Exhibition runs through to March 30th, 2017

Seacourt The Centre for Contemporary Printmaking
Unit 20 Dunlop Industrial Units
8 Balloo Drive
Bangor
BT19 7QY

www.seacourt-ni.org.uk

  

KAI RICHTER – SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

Posted on 2017-02-20

The materials – wood, metal and concrete – Richter uses for his sculptures and assemblages refer to the process of building. Some titles like Das schwarze Dreieck (2017) or Barnett (2017) correlate with well-known names in art history. Richter encounters the specific qualities of the varied materials and artistic positions with curiosity. He questions and explores their potential in order to utilize and to develop it. In his understanding artistic practice means observation and experimentation.
While Richter has to respect gravity and statics with his wall works and sculptures, the collages open up a more fantastic sphere. The impossible gets designed and built in these two-dimensional collages. But works like Sonde (2017) or Prop (2017) show that there is only a fine line between fragility and stability, between imbalance and balance, in other words between conceived and constructed works. Hence Sonde stalks on thin scaffolding poles through the entrance area of the gallery while Prop seems to lean weightlessly against the wall.
In the adjacent room of the gallery, the work Das schwarze Dreieck made of brittle and awkward construction materials demonstrates how Richter uses simplicity and clarity of form to elicit sensual aspects of the material. Even though there is accordance and harmony there is also a certain unrest, questions are starting to take shape: What, for example, differentiates a sculpture from a so-called objet d’art. What takes precedence – the material, with which the sculptor occupies a space, or the space itself, which the artist makes visible and perceptible with his art? The answer lies somewhere in between.

Exhibition runs through to April 1st, 2017

Galerie Christian Lethert
Antwerpener Straße 4
50672 Cologne
Germany

www.christianlethert.com