Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Alte Nationalgalerie - Berlin.

Re-visited a couple of old favourites.

Arnold Böcklin. The Isle of the Dead. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Arnold Böcklin. The Isle of the Dead. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Arnold Böcklin. The Isle of the Dead - detail. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Honore Daumier.  don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Alte Nationalgalerie.
August Kopisch. Pontine Marshes at Sunset 1848. Alte Nationalgalerie.

Caspar David Friedrich. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Monk by the Sea. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Monk by the Sea - detail. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Monk by the Sea - detail. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Abbey Among Oak Trees. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Abbey Among Oak Trees - detail. Alte Nationalgalerie.
Caspar David Friedrich. Abbey Among Oak Trees - detail. Alte Nationalgalerie.
 

Sunday, November 27, 2016

EUROPA at St. Agnes, Berlin. 26.11.2016

Press Release:The EUROPA Light Installation is a joint project of morePlatz, St. Agnes and Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ: The opening of the installation will take place on 26th of November @ ST. AGNES, Alexandrinenstr.118-121, 6 P.M. 
Curator and writer Lukas Feireiss will hold the opening speech.

For a long time the European project was considered an obvious development that generated benefits for all parties concerned. The succession of serious crises that move the continent for a decade, endangers this project for the first time seriously. The Brexit could weaken the entire alliance sustainably.

The current situation is so loaded with problems that a positive sign appears necessary. Europe lacks visibility, public presence and positive feedback.

The continuity and stability of the European idea are existentially, especially during this difficult period of time.

This is the background for a light installation on the facade of
ST. AGNES in Kreuzberg, which opposes the lack of visibility and presence with a statement for Europe. The project of morePlatz proposes to install the letters EUROPA of 33 fluorescent tubes on the eastern facade of St.Agnes. The installation should shine in autumn 2016 for half a year, and subsequently may be moved to other locations.

The building of the former church is ST. AGNES - home of KÖNIG GALERIE - with its bold appearance is part of the installation, quasi as a witness and support the idea of Europe.




The Others at König Gallery - Berlin.

The Others | curated by Elmgreen & Dragset | KÖNIG GALERIE | 12.11.2016–22.1.2017

with Tacita Dean, Elmgreen & Dragset, Pepe Espaliú, Martin Kippenberger, Kris Martin, Ron Mueck, Aidan Salakhova, Andres Serrano, Santiago Sierra, Young-Jun Tak, Nasan Tur, Mark Wallinger.

Santiago Sierra
Santiago Sierra
Santiago Sierra
 Santiago Sierra - Object Measuring 600x57x52cm constructed to be held horizontally to a wall (performance).
Andres Serrano (centre)
Young-Jun Tak
Young-Jun Tak
Kris Martin
Mark Wallinger. Ecce Homo.
Elmgreen & Dragset. Ron Mueck.
Elmgreen & Dragset. Ron Mueck.
Martin Kippenberger.

Press Release (EN)
KÖNIG GALERIE is pleased to present The Others, a group exhibition curated by Elmgreen & Dragset and inspired by the gallery’s location at St. Agnes, formerly a Catholic church.
The Others presents fifteen works by twelve artists who have each challenged established ways of portraying the body within Christian iconography. Focusing on the meaning of materiality in Christianity and contemporary art, the show brings together a variety of figurative representations and seeks out the potential for emancipation from moral edicts in religion through art. Forms of bodily resistance and alternative narratives address issues of belief, gender, race, morality and sexuality. With the exhibition title The Others, the gaze is turned back on the participating artists themselves as “the others,” most of them coming from countries with a predominantly Protestant or Catholic history. In a secularized city like Berlin, Christianity, as well as other religions, might seem distant from everyday life. However, Islam has been dominating the news media over the past few years. The title proposes a reality where we are all potentially “the others.” 
Art, like religion, depends on a shared language to communicate—a language in which certain material forms connote commonly accepted definitions and associations. Both art and religion can provide visceral experiences in which meaning derives from the material, in contrast to the streams of digital information disseminated on the Internet. Several of the artists in The Others have reworked classic Christian depictions of the heroic, holy or suffering body in order to speak about identities and desires that have historically been condemned or excluded by the Church. 
The Others will be accompanied by a book in English and German, published by König Books and to be released with a book launch at KÖNIG GALERIE on January 21, 2017. Along with photographic documentation of the exhibited works as well as installation views and documentation of the St. Agnes building during its former life as a church, the book will include an introduction by the exhibition’s curators, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, and an essay by the art historian Michael Diers.

Mark Wallinger. Ecce Homo.
The Others at König Gallery - Berlin.
Tacita Dean.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

George Condo. Confrontation. Museum Berggruen. Berlin

Pics had to be surreptitious, so the cell was the only option. The exhibition continues until March 12, 2017. Holding contemporary Artists up to "the masters" is always a risky proposition but there was a lot to digest here and definitely worth going back to, when I have more time.
George Condo. Confrontation. Museum Berggruen. Berlin
George Condo. Renaissance Actor.
Klee. Condo. Klee
George Condo. Velazquez Portrait.
George Condo. Day One
George Condo
George Condo
George Condo - detail.
Pablo Picasso - Dora Maar mit grünen Fingernägeln.
George Condo.
Picasso. Condo. Picasso
Press release:

„It’s about putting things together and seeing how they react to one another. Whereas a dialogue is a more placid, almost prosaic platform for discussion. One has dialogues every day. I could have a dialogue every day with the lady down the street who’s selling cupcakes. But if I say to the cupcake lady, ‘Something is wrong with the frosting. Why is it blue?’ – suddenly we’re having more of a confrontation. And then it’s memorable!” George Condo, 2016
On Nov. 19, 2016, Museum Berggruen opens an exhibition of works by American painter George Condo (b. 1957, Concord, New Hampshire). This first ever large-scale exhibition of contemporary art at Museum Berggruen since its opening combines works by George Condo from the early 1980s through today with works by classical modernist artists from the collection of Berlin’s Nationalgalerie. George Condo. Confrontation will be on view throughout the museum, and many of the paintings, drawings, collages by the American artist selected are to be shown to the public for the very first time in this show.
The presentation of masterpieces by Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Giacometti from Museum Berggruen alongside Condo’s works develops an open field of references. Since the early 1980s, Condo refers in his works with a mixture of humor, irony, and veneration to the entire spectrum of European and American art. For his in part grotesque visual imagination, he takes up genres like the nude, the still life, and the portrait. Playfully, Condo combines references to art history, in particular formal and motivic references to the artists of classical modernism, whose once shocking cubist paintings have long since entered the canon of art history. To the same extent, popular culture also flows into Condo’s works: his portraits reveal borrowings from comic figures like Batman, Bugs Bunny, or Mickey Mouse.
The exhibition George Condo. Confrontation understands painting from the 20th and 21st century as a process of mutual references and traditions constantly in motion, still continuing today in popular culture.
A multi-part publication including an interview between Udo Kittelmann and George Condo, essays by Felicia Rappe and Olivier Berggruen, an illustrated book with all exhibited works by Condo, and a story by Daniel Kehlmann will be published in conjunction with the exhibition (40 Euro, available at the museum or online www.georgecondoinberlin.de).
The entrance ticket for George Condo. Confrontation (14 Euro, reduced 7 Euro) includes admission to the permanent exhibition of Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg and the special exhibition Surreale Sachlichkeit, which presents the rich holdings of art from the collection of Berlin’s Nationalgalerie from the 1920s and 1930s.
George Condo. 
George Condo. Study for a Clown.
George Condo. Study for a Clown - detail.
George Condo. Study for a Clown - detail.
 Condo. Picasso.
Picasso. Condo
George Condo. Seated Couple.
Picasso. Condo. Picasso. Condo
Picasso. Condo
Condo
Picasso. Condo


George Condo