Mariella Mosler, Ohne Titel, 2002, Rauminstallation (Detailansicht), Oldenburger Kunstverein, Quarzsand, 584 x 792 cm, courtesy the artist, Foto: Christoph Irrgang, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2010. |
Eastern Influences in Contemporary Western European Design |
Gabriele Basch, gestern, 2008, 180 × 200 cm, Andreas Ritter Privatsammlung, © VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2010.
Heike Weber, barocco, 2004, Rauminstallation, Museum Morsbroich, courtesy the artist, © VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2010.
Martin Assig, Gestalt, 2007, Enkaustik, Tempera auf Holz, 260 x 200 cm, courtesy the artist, Foto: Gunter Lepkowski, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2010. |
Marta Herford We are Orient brings together contemporary Western European artists in whose work ornaments play a central part. in whose work ornaments play a central part. The different forms and approaches do not only show this motif’s numerous possibilities but also its contradictions. The artists of this show develop a new perspective on ornamentation which this show develop a new perspective on ornamentation which lies somewhere between lies somewhere between lies somewhere between and poetically liberated lines, between cumbersome grids and transparent textures, and between decorative surfaces and symbolically condensed spaces. Thanks to these approaches, categorisations such as typically “Oriental” become redundant. Today Western societies’ feelings towards the Middle East are often defined by an anxious distance towards a foreign world. At the same time, romanticised notions with a penchant for the exotic are also still very much alive. However, a closer look beyond these clichéd ideas reveals a century-old relationship between Western and Eastern pictorial cultures. While the rejection of decorative ornaments, as propagated by the Bauhaus movement for example, largely influenced the development of modern abstract art, ornamentation is also one of the oldest forms of non-figurative depiction. Beyond their shared origins in antiquity, the influence of the Arabic and Islamic world on the Western world prevails until this day, even if we are not always aware of it. Participating artists include Martin Assig, Gabriele Basch, Mariella Mosler, Christine Streuli, and Heike Weber. Martin Assig, born 1959 in Schwelm, paints almost exclusively with wax. This very old, but rarely used technique of encaustic enables the artist to create strongly identifiable images with distinctive coloring. The composition and density of pigment in the liquefied wax control the brightness of light generating a relief-like sculptural surface. The motifs Gabriele Basch uses in her paintings are neither created with realism in mind, nor are they derived from pure imagination. Instead, they are filtered out from a large collection of snapshots. As photographs, they are unspectacular; some are even failed attempts. In fact, they are macro-lens shots of an every day microcosm that serve as an introduction to a visual world based on painting. Ornamental patterned cristal mirrors reflecting the emptiness of the space, wrinkled potatoes transfromed into seductive silver sculptures, foam and paper as models for solid bronze masks: Mariella Mosler plays with our perception, with the nature and illusion of things. Mosler, who was one of the most talked about artists at documenta X, transforms ordinary materials like sand, jelly fruits or human hair, often infused with symbolic meaning, into precious art objects. Christine Streuli uses different indirect painting techniques such as printing, pressing and tracing to create abstract painting where the brush plays only a marginal role. her imagery carries implications of elusive and sensory based memories, as well as traces from the physical world. Streuli, who lives and works in Zurich, has participated in the International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York. She has exhibited widely though Europe, including in Basel, Berlin, London, and Zurich, as well as in New oykr. She received a BA at the Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin, and an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Switzerland. Streuli's residency was funded by the Cultural Department of the City of Zurich. The perhaps most fascinating feature of Heike Weber's work remains hidden from the exhibition visitor: namely the fact that to begin with at least, everything is white, immaculately white. Before the actual drawing act begins, before Heike Weber tackles the site with bright-colored permanent felt markers, the entire room has already been transformed into a three-dimensional sheet of paper. The artist's temporary workplace is covered in white PVC and makes up a projection room in which the viewer can recapitulate for him/herself the genesis of the floor and ceiling drawings as a poetic after-image. A white cube that only exists as a statement, as an aesthetic backdrop that inevitably vanishes, effaced by the drawing that appears in situ. This provisional arena gradually fills with reductional graphic gestures, which in a leisurely, but nevertheless labor-intensive process floods the room. A flood that swells over several days, beginning with space-determining coordinates that slowly invade the space available. The gently flung-out lines begin at the pillars and niches, steps or corners and are propelled into the room, gathering an unimagined force and drive. The minimized graphic lineation and the smallest of expressive tools turn into a flat all-over that breaks around barriers. Gesture gains serial dynamism within the framework of the white cube and is bundled into a swinging, space-flooding motif. |
Christine Streuli, Believer, 2008, Acryl und Lack auf Baumwolle, 100 x 150 x 5 cm, courtesy the artist, Foto: Jens Ziehe, Berlin. |
