artfridge

DÜSSELDORF: EL GRECO AT KUNSTPALAST

2012-06-04T23:57:00.002+02:00

Image 1-3, El Greco: Der Heilige Jacobus der Ältere, ca. 1608-14, Foto: Rebeca García Merino; Laokoon, 1610-14; Bildnis des Juristen Jerónimo de Cevallos, 1613, Courtesy Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; Last image: Pablo Picasso, Porträt eines Unbekannten im Stil von El Greco, 1899, © Succession Picasso/VG Bild-Kunst, 2012

It was only 100 years ago, that the paintings of El Greco (1541-1614) became popular in Germany. Back then, in Düsseldorf, artists such as Max Beckmann, Max Oppenheimer, Franz Marc or Albert Bloch got to know his dramatic works - biblical figures with eyes wide open, stretched bodies, fragile fingers, painted in weird perspectives, faithfully praying and begging for forgiveness. Currently, Düsseldorf's Museum Kunstpalast once again imported El Greco's masterpieces from everywhere in the world to the Rhine area and juxtaposes them to more or less 100 artworks by artists, who were inspired by him. His young admirers, also including Manet, Cézanne and Picasso, imitaded his expressive and colourful style - the resemblances are sometimes striking.
Within an art-historical context, I think that the exhibition is extremely interesting and simply but intelligibly curated. One doesn't need to have a large knowledge of Byzantinism, Mannerism and its artificial qualities, in order to follow how modern artists employed El Greco's liberated painting style and how this liberation inspired further generations. It is primarily a show that focuses on how Greco's masterpieces influenced the German avant-garde, however, unfortunately almost completely forgoing his reception history from France and Spain.

EL GRECO UND DIE MODERNE
until the 12th of August 2012

MUSEUM KUNSTPALAST
Ehrenhof 4-5
40479 Düsseldorf
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 – 18h, Thursday 11-21h 

Image 1 and 3: El Greco, Mater Dolorosa, 1590s, Foto: A. Plisson; Die Büßende Magdalena, ca. 1580-86, Foto: Jamison Miller. Image 2: Jacob Steinhardt, Der Prophet, 1913 © Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin

NEVER FORGET YOKO ONO'S SCREAM

2012-06-01T13:21:00.002+02:00

Photo: Courtesy MoMA, photo by © Scott Rudd

Yoko Ono screaming at MoMA in 2010, re-staging the “Voice Piece for Soprano,” which is originally from 1961. The installation also invited other visitors to use the microphone, following Ono's instructions ”Scream against the wind/ against the wall/ against the sky”. The museum had to turn down the volume after several employees and visitors had complained about the noise (and, as the Observer reported, 'after a woman apparently used the installation to find a lost companion, shouting, “Jeffrey!” Shortly thereafter, a muffled, “What!” came from the second-floor galleries.')

BERLIN: SELIM VAROL'S ART AND TOYS

2012-05-28T14:40:00.002+02:00

Images: courtesy collection Selim Varol and me collectors room, berlin; last image © Jermain Raffington & Clemens Poloczek via ignant

Thomas Olbricht's private museum Me Collectors Room at Auguststrasse in Berlin-Mitte has not convinced me in a single exhibition. The only space that always seems coherent to me, is his Wunderkammer - a permanent chamber-of-curiosity collection, displaying hundreds of artifacts from the Renaissance and Baroque period. The current exhibition 'Art & Toys', showing a choice of 3.000 pieces from Selim Varol's 15.000 piece private collection, finally puts the museum's agenda in perspective: The collector himself, his obsession and his passion come to the fore.
Olbricht, titling his museum 'ME' (however, as I found out in the comment section below by Selim Varol himself, meaning Moving Energies), makes no secret of the venue's self-centeredness. Nor does the Düsseldorf-based, 39-year old collector Varol deny his own presence in his collection: “My collection, that’s me – my childhood, my friends, my heroes, my role models, what i enjoy, what moves me.” Shepard Fairey, KAWS, JR, Alexander McQueen, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Tony Oursler, Terry Richardson - an endless list of artists, whose works are presented in the collectors (play-)room. One central piece - a Disney/Horror version of Noah's Ark, is inhabited by mutated Teddybear-Spongebobs and smiling Micky Mouses. The walls are plastered with Street Art prints and Shepard Fairey's Obama-posters from 2008. A wild and bombastic mixture of political and everyday objects.
Selim Varol's collection demonstrates a curiosity in the Zeitgeist of a younger generation - a passion for the arty revolution, the affirmative, the permanent hope for a better world, an everlasting wish to never grow old. And - next to Olbricht's Wunderkammer - the collection found a perfect place to be a time record of our today.

ART & TOYS – COLLECTION SELIM VAROL

until 16th of September

ME COLLECTORS ROOM

Auguststrasse 68

10117 Berlin, Germany

Images: first and second: © Jermain Raffington & Clemens Poloczek via ignant, third, fourth, fifth: courtesy and collection Selim Varol; last image: portrait Selim Varol © Sabrina Weniger

AMY'S LONDON: LIMONCELLO, WE LOVE YOU

2012-05-24T15:17:00.001+02:00

all images: Installation Views 'We Love You', Courtesy Limoncello Gallery, London

Last Wednesday saw the opening of East London gallery Limoncello’s new space in the Russian Club’s studios, Dalston. Taking a big step up (in terms of floor space if not geography) from their former shoe-box premises, directors Rebecca May Marston and Rosa Tyhurst have expanded with gusto into their bright, beautiful new space with a raucous group show – ‘We Love You’ – for which gallery artists have been invited to show one piece alongside a piece that has served as inspiration and another from a ‘hot tip’ emerging artist. Unsurprisingly, given the breadth of the Limoncello roster, the result is a pleasingly motley affair with several large sculptural work such as John Frankland’s precarious and gently comic tower of stacked pink balloons (2012) or James Torbles’ ‘Folded Concrete’ slab (2012) vying for immediate attention amongst the assembled video, photographic, painted and printed works.

Although a sense that the show was crowded doubtless owed much to the spectacularly busy opening night where the crowds of young ‘creatives’ managed to make even the commodious premises seem claustophobic. Given space to breathe, the ‘We Love You’ concept allows for revelatory moments of clarity and coherence. Yonatan Vinisky’s series of photographs, ‘T-R-A-P’ (2011), articulates a strong preoccupation with solid form and colours, repetition and re-configuration, echoed in the double-sided Anatal Biro composition (1950) and beautiful ‘Morgen Rot’ and ‘Abend Rot’ (2000) screenprints by Rupprecht Geiger that bookend it. Deceptively simple, Jack Strange’s levitating tower of stacked CDs (‘Blank Maxwell’ 2012) is shimmeringly, liquidly beautiful – a magpie reminder of the over-looked glamour of the banal and quotidian.

‘We love you’ is an appropriately upbeat declaration from this East End upstart whose expanded new space is indicative of its (deservedly) growing and increasingly established status on the London art scene. And good luck to them. Limoncello, we love you too!

We Love You
until Sat 7th July

Limoncello
340-344 Kingsland Road  
London E8 4DA
Opening hours: Thursday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

ARTIST WATCH: SEBASTIAN ERRAZURIZ

2012-05-19T20:40:00.003+02:00

all images courtesy Sebastian Errazuriz

The Chilenian, New York-based artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz (*1977) creates provocating and humorous public art, sculptures and morbid designs. His work explores the ambivalence of life and death - dark sarcasm and intelligent design are united and realised in simple ideas. See his website here: meetsebastian.com

COLOGNE: MAX FRINTROP - RICOCHET

2012-05-14T16:00:00.000+02:00

all images: installation views, Max Frintrop, Ricochet, Courtesy: Galerie Chaplini

'Geometry', as Isaac Newton once said, 'does not teach us to draw these lines, but requires them to be drawn.' Here we are, surrounded by geometry - the beginning of each and every brushstroke. Max Frintrop (*1982) dedicated his exhibition 'Ricochet' (= a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface) at Galerie Chaplini to these primal lines, investigating in the limits of a 2 dimensional canvas. His wooden sculpture, growing into- and out of the walls and the ceiling, appears as an extension of the colourful paintings. The surface is penetrated. Two- and three dimensionality shake hands and create a space within the space, hypnotising us with their undoubtful, logical truth. Beauty without frills. Conceptuality without severity. The lines are drawn, geometry is born.

Ricochet
Max Frintrop
until 6th of June

CHAPLINI
Bismarckstr. 60
D-50672 Köln
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday 13 –18h, Saturday 12 – 16h

BERLIN: KUNATH PAINTS THE THINGS WE DID BEFORE WE WERE DEAD

2012-05-10T16:00:00.000+02:00

From top: Friedrich Kunath, "The Inside Of The Outside Of A Dream", 2012, "The Years We Had Were Not All Bad (Free Agents)", 2011/12, "Almost Summer", 2012; Courtesy: all images BQ, Berlin, Photo: Roman Maerz, Berlin

'Come back romance, all is forgiven' neon-coloured letters welcome the visitors of BQ's stunningly well smelling gallery space. Friedrich Kunath's created a world, somewhere between kitsch and sarcasm. His current show 'Things we did when we were dead' approaches death, failure or melancholia with an enviable effortlessness. Kunath (*1974, Germany), who is also a represented artist at White Cube in London, avoids the surrealism-trap by showing more self-irony than anything else. His paintings are always on the fringes of a failed masterpiece-copy, but their layers continuously confuse, somehow and truly unexplainable develop into something beautiful, dragging the attention to incoherent details - bananas, clowns, American advertise illustrations, Brothers Grimm drawings, Pinocchio with tits. Romance, in Kunath's painterly world, is transformed into a compost of old memories and tightens up in his pathetic self-portrait The Inside Of The Outside Of A Dream. Kunath reanimated Romance. It returned, but this time it gives us the finger.

'Things we did when we were dead'
Friedrich Kunath
until the 30th of June

BQ
Jörn Bötnagel und Yvonne Quirmbach
Weydingerstraße 10
10178 Berlin-Mitte
Openig Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11-18h

COLOGNE: VISCERALITY BY GEREON KREBBER

2012-05-08T15:35:00.000+02:00

Visceral sculpture by Gereon Krebber at ArtCologne represented by Galerie Christian Lethert. The gallery currently exhibits the solo show 'Somatös' by the Cologne-based sculptor until the 26th of May.

WEEKEND TUNES...

2012-05-05T18:01:00.001+02:00

Some happy nostalgic sounds for Saturday...

COLOGNE: COLASEL - PERFORMATIVE SPACES

2012-05-04T02:17:00.001+02:00

Alfons Knogl, Der Grosse Comfort; Pedro Wirz in collaboration with Jürg Stäuble MIN, GUÊ and DUNI of UNI-DUNI-TÊ-SALAME-MIN-GUÊ; David Jablonowski, Tchogha Zanbil (Azadi Tower), 2010; Rico Sacagliola / Michael Meier, Plants, Walls & Dreams; Matthieu Lavanchy Mr. Schuhlmann or the man in the high castle #3

COLASEL (Cologne / Basel) the current exhibit at Drei unites seven artists, who explore the performativity of space, the interaction of object, interiority and solid borders. Sculptures, photos, installations curiously test the integrity of architecture and human being. Matthieu Lavanchy's retro-styled photography Mr. Schuhlmann or the man in the high castle #3 seemingly maps a traditional couch corner with red yarn, framing a dusty feel. Like a trace of rituals made visible, the plain lines occupy the old-fashioned room like a spider net. Pedro Wirz's and Jürg Stäuble's collaboration piece MIN, GUÊ and DUNI of UNI-DUNI-TÊ-SALAME-MIN-GUÊ - a wooden installation - works the opposite way and makes the solid object become alive and flexible. Each artistic position presents a different thought on how to re-think and re-stage rooms. This is especially interesting, since the show will - programatically and with new artistic positions - move to another location and tour to Basel in the project space Van Horbourg. A good chance to consider the relevance of site-specificity...

DREI

Albertusstr. 3

50667 Cologne

Opening hours: Wed - Fri 14 - 18h; Sat 12 - 16h

VAN HORBOURG

Horburgstr. 70

4057 Basel (Switzerland)

BERLIN: GALLERY WEEKEND 2012 SUMMARY

2012-04-29T14:37:00.000+02:00

Three hours time - dozens of openings. Gallery weekend is a labyrinth of art throughout the city of Berlin and each year, I have a guilty conscience of not having seen everything I planned to. Here are my favourite impressions from my Gallery Weekend tour.

From the top: Private Chauffeurs at Potsdamer Straße 77/78, 2x Jonas Burgert at Blain/Southern, Hans Eichinger at Maerz Galerie, Eva & Adele in front of Blain/Southern, Yelena Popova at Figge von Rosen, at Gloria Berlin, Timothy Shearer & Benjamin Tillig at INFERNOESQUE,

It started at Potsdamer Strasse with a big, bigger, Jonas Burgert-blast: The German painter's show at Blain/Southern, an apparent must-see, turnes out to be a disappointing show-off. A gruesome and morbid universe, celebrated by London's posh art crowd, temporarily imported from the British capital. Just across, passing the living sculptures Eva & Adele, several Berlin/Leipzig-based galleries, such as Maerz display their figurative best-sellers. On the opposite side of the street, Galerie Figge von Rosen present the pastel-coloured and cheerful painting-wood-installations by Yelena Popva in a remarkable curation. Timothy Shearer and Benjamin Tillig, shown in a group-show at Infernoesque, brought a little piece of Cologne to Berlin's industrial art district Heidestrasse, which was strikingly empty on Friday evening.

In contrast, conceptuality and plain forms dominate the galleries at Lindenstraße 35: Galerie Jochen Hempel's group-show Cracked. White. Open. and Ulrich Vogel's solo-show at Galerie Opdahl convinced with architectural shapes, site-specific installations and poetic contents. Douglas Gordon, exhibited at Niels Borch Jensen, seems to like it mystical and hired a pianist to play classical sounds on a piano enthroned by a stuffed out wolf, while Gordon's lunar eclipses hypnotise the visitor. On the ground floor, Tilman Hornig's show Elastobabe at Galerie Gebrüder Lehmann caricurates Berlin's Techno-scene with broken mirrors screaming 'AWESOME' and epileptic glitter dolls, being on the ropes.

The most fortunate surprise of the evening was the exhibition 'Imellemrum - Zwischenraum' at Room 7 (Halle am Wasser) with the two danish artists Christina Bredahl Duelund and Natasha Thiara Rydvald. Much less spectacular than most other shows, this one was unpretentious and generated its attention with an overcoming of materiality, such as textiles looking like wood or chairs drowning in mirrors. Less is more - at least in this case. The evening ended in a fantastic party at the Mindpirates, who are host to Fracture - a high-class group show curated by the London-based gallery Paradise Row and the Amsterdam-based Gallery Gabriel Rolt, including miniature etchings by Jake & Dinos Chapman, paintings by Eva Räder, sculptures by Davina Semo and many other great works.

I don't know, whether any of you used the 3D-virtual Gallery Weekend app, and I wonder if that is really necessary since it is just not possible to see all the shows anyway, but next year I should certainly get a hold of one of these private chauffeurs that I spotted in front of Blain/Southern.

From the top: 2x Christina Bredahl Duelund & Natasha Thiara Rydvald at Room 7, 2x Douglas Gordon at Niels Borch Jensen, Felix Schramm at Galerie Jochen Hempel, 2x Tilman Hornig 'Elstobabe' at Gebr. Lehmann, Davina Semo at Mindpirates and dinner at Mindpirates

BERLIN: GALLERY WEEKEND 2012 SATURDAY

2012-04-27T15:26:00.000+02:00

from top: Untitled (absence) installation view Lars Bjerre and Lela Ahmadzai; book Robert Longo 'Charcoal' and book preview, published by Hatje Cantz

SATURDAY

BOOK LAUNCH
Hyperrealist artist Robert Longo releases and signs his new monograph
"ROBERT LONGO - CHARCOAL"
from 15-17h at Capitain Petzel (Karl-Marx-Alle 45)

CATALOGUE LAUNCH & FINISSAGE
Of our exhibition 'Untitled (absence)'
with photography by Lela Ahmadzai and paintings/installations by Lars Bjerre
up from 19h at Savvy Contemporary (Richardstrasse 43/44)

BERLIN: GALLERY WEEKEND 2012

2012-04-25T18:36:00.001+02:00

From top: Julian Schnabel at CFA Berlin, Ulrich Vogl at Galerie Opdahl Berlin, Alice Creischer at KOW Berlin, Boutique am Brunnen

Tomorrow the annual art-spring finally awakes from its winter sleep, when the Berlin Biennale opens at KW. One day later, with 51 participating Gallery Weekend galleries and basically all other 550 Berlin-based galleries opening a new show, it is pretty hard to keep track of what is worth looking at. This my little Friday route: a choice of seven openings that promise very exciting shows in Kreuzberg, Schöneberg and Mitte, all opening between 18-21h, ending at the Mindpirates after-show 'Fracture party' (Schlesische Straße 38) Let's go!

// Kreuzberg, Lindenstrasse 35

GALERIE OPDAHL BERLIN
Ulrich Vogl - peindre d´abord une cage
galerieopdahl.de
(artfridge did an interview with the artist)

GALERIE GEBRÜDER LEHMANN
Tilman Hornig - Elastobabe
galerie-lehmann.com

// Schöneberg

ESTHER SCHIPPER (Schöneberger Ufer 65)

Nathan Carter - Slayer Metallica

estherschipper.com

// Mitte:

INFERNOESQUE (Heidestraße 46-52)
Boutique (Cologne) am Brunnen

Alex Gross, Yvonne Klasen, Timothy Shearer, Benjamin Tillig and more.
infernoesque.de

CONTEMPORARY FINE ARTS (Am Kupfergraben 10)
Julian Schnabel - Deus ex Machina
cfa-berlin.com

KOW (Brunnenstraße 9)
Alice Creischer - The Establishment of Matters of Fact
kow-berlin.com

BQ BERLIN (Weydingerstrasse 10)
Friedrich Kunath
bqberlin.de

COLOGNE: DAVID OSTROWSKI 'DANN LIEBER NEIN'

2012-04-25T00:39:00.003+02:00

photos by artfridge

Last week, on my last day in Cologne I visited the opening of my friend David Ostrowski's show "Dann lieber nein" ( Then rather no) at Figge von Rosen Gallery. In his recent series of works, such as 'F', David has been provoking mistakes and painterly failures in order to evoke dynamic compositions. His canvases, always accompanied by a large portion of humor and elaborate cynicism, characteristically carry blue spray paint indicating childish comic drawings and simplified body parts, such as feet, penises or breasts. But also glitter-sticky-tape, wood and paper pieces are glued on top of his works, endowing them a more voluminous and massive visual appearance. If you should be in Cologne it is absolutely recommendable to check out the exhibition. In case you would like to know more about David's working methods, take a look at the interview I did with him a year ago. More infos below.

DANN LIEBER NEIN
until the 16th of June

GALERIE FIGGE VON ROSEN, COLOGNE
Aachener Straße 65
50674 Cologne
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11-18h, Saturday 12-17h

david-ostrowski.com

WE LIKE DIETER MEIER

2012-04-21T15:42:00.001+02:00

Photo by artfridge

Dieter Meier at Art Cologne 2012 Preview. Oh Yeahhhhh...

BERLIN: INTERVIEW WITH ULRICH VOGL

2012-04-18T17:17:00.000+02:00

Once upon a time, Ulrich Vogl wanted to become a diplomat, because the southern German installation artist loves to travel and to meet new people. His poetic artworks catalyze dreams. Employing light, shadows, mirrors and seemingly banal objects, they transform and manipulate rooms, introducing a re-thought handling of space - creating an illusionary dreamscape. Without disregarding carefulness and attention to details, Ulrich is curious and does not avoid coincidences in his working process. Openly and extremely warm-hearted, the Berlin-based artist recently shared work formations, stories of his everyday-life and his past with me. At his studio in the middle of Kreuzberg, artfridge was allowed to get a sneak preview of Ulrich’s newest art works, which he will exhibit at Galerie Opdahl at the end of April. See the interview (in English and German) and more photos below.

Photos: Anna-Lena Werner / Photo 'Fenster': Ulrich Vogl

(translated English version, original German version below)

Anna-Lena Werner: Where did you grow up?
Ulrich Vogl: I was born in the Allgäu, in southern Germany. Later on I studied in Munich and then I moved to Berlin. That was in 1999. In between, I spend one and a half years in New York.

Anna: How did you get around to do art?
Ulrich: It was actually because of my older brother, who studied fine arts back then. Of course, I didn’t want to do the same as him, but I envied him for all the travels. So I thought: ‘Then I will become a diplomat.’

Anna: Plan B.
Ulrich: Exactly. I studied politics and law for about one year, still observing my brother’s great life. And then I decided to study fine arts, too. I think I had a weird imagination of being a diplomat. In fact, right now my life is exactly as I had imagined the life of a diplomat. With each journey one gets an exciting profile of different societies.

Anna: Did you directly start to build installations and sculptures?
Ulrich: No, I started with giant drawings that I, similar to a labyrinth, placed and stretched into rooms. I wouldn’t include them into my portfolio anymore. But they still exist, in my grandmother’s garret. Later on, I worked with the term ‘Extension of Drawing’ - that is, installations dominated by the shape of lines.

Anna: Do you still remember your first exhibition?
Ulrich: I had my first group exhibition in the age of 16, together with Sven Kroner and Jürgen Heinert, at the Social Democratic Party in the Allgäu. My first solo show took place at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery in Dublin - it was really chaotic, because I have been re-organizing the hanging several times. The galerist threw his hands up in horror. But eventually it was a great show and I was proud as punch.

Anna: How did your connection to Dublin arise?
Ulrich: It was pure coincidence. I had a contact in New York, who invited me and other DAAD scholars to join a group show in Ireland. This led to the solo show and I have been faithful since then. The Irish people are an extremely heartily nation.

Anna: How is your working routine? Do you work in the night?
Ulrich: No, not at all. (laughs) I don’t want to go into retirement when I am 60, but rather continue working for a long time. My working routine mainly consists of me swaying things all the time. I pick up material, build and dismantle, clean up. A lot of works emerge by coincidence. At one point I have an idea and then I start with the details.

Anna: So, your artworks are often subject to coincidence, rather than a plan?
Ulrich: Exactly. Usually I see something that interests me...

Anna: ...such as?
Ulrich: For instance the sunlight shining through a window on a summer day, passing a flower pot that stands on the window board. This is an amazing spectacle on the wall. One feels the light, the energy and the movement of the plant. Then I think of possibilities to simulate this situation. I assemble a mirror, a bit of sticky tape, a couple of tree knobs in the front; a ventilator to create movement and finally some light. Then the reflection is simulated on the wall. This is how my installation ‘Fenster’ emerged. I also made different versions: November in Berlin, spring in Basel, summer in Greek - and each time there are different leaves and knobs.

Anna: It is a very aspiring and longing work.
Ulrich: Well, this is how one feels sometimes. (laughs) Basically, it is a simple way to fulfill one’s dreams and to treat rooms differently, with a new angle. Like a catalyzer for dreams, a trigger.

Anna: Is this work also about security?
Ulrich: Somehow it is, because one is inside. Maybe it is comparable to watching a movie, where one can get lost in another world, but on the other hand, one is still in the present. You know, I understand that one might have to be sad, in order to achieve a certain depth in art. But I personally think it is very important to be happy in life. (laughs)

Anna: That is a very untypical statement from an artist. Are you a happy person?
Ulrich: Yes, pretty much. But when I am concentratively working towards an exhibition, then I do have those moments where I don’t feel good at all. Sometimes it needs this energy to stay focused, to not capitulate.

Anna: You regularly invite your friends to your studio and ask them to tell you their opinion about your unfinished works. Doesn’t this sometimes harm you?
Ulrich: It is important to ask a lot them. As much as I want my work to catalyse the thoughts of others, I think it is legitimate to mirror a collection of other peoples’ thoughts.

Anna: Are your artworks romantic?
Ulrich: These moods are certainly beset with romanticism. That is why I prefer to keep the shapes more plain and strict - like a counterpole. I actually like the term ‘romantic’, it is just not very cool. One easily becomes vulnerable. But I don’t really care about that. I really fancy the term ‘Conceptual Romanticism’. (laughs)

Anna: Wouldn’t that be a perfect title for a manifesto?
Ulrich: It is a great term, but someone already wrote a book about it.

Anna: Why do you make the birdcage reappear so frequently?
Ulrich: I like these open-closed rooms. Initially, a cage is a closed space. But I usually keep the doors open, such as in my installation ‘Nine Clouds in a Cage’. There is a cosmos in the cage that still reacts to the external cosmos - to movement, heat or light. I don’t want to emphasize the state of being trapped, but rather highlight the cage as being a shelter. I am interested in the interactive moment.

Anna: You always integrate each object that is necessary to realise your works: A projector becomes the protagonist, a lamp is placed on a plinth in the middle of the room...
Ulrich: Yes, that is true. In one of my newest installations an image projector lights a hamster wheel. I like the flicker effect - it reminds me of a super 8 film. I think the title will be ‘Film’, too.

Anna: And the wheel keeps on spinning?
Ulrich: Yes, about 20 minutes.

Anna: And then the galerist has to nudge it over and over?
Ulrich: No (laughs), I haven’t decided yet. I might install a small engine on the top.

Anna: The technique of movement also plays a dominant role in your work ‘Radion’, with the record player and the glass bowl...
Ulrich: ...yes, I should actually give this piece some oil. It will be exhibited at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in the group show ‘Berlin Status I’.

Anna: Do you already know the title for your solo exhibition at Galerie Opdahl?
Ulrich: Yes, well...I actually wanted to ask for your opinion on that one... (general laughter)

www.ulrich-vogl.de

Interview & Photos: Anna-Lena Werner

Ulrich Vogl - peindre d´abord une cage
27th of April 2012 – 16th of June 2012
Opening: Friday, 27th of April, 18-21h

Galerie Opdahl Berlin
Lindenstrasse 35
10969 Berlin
Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11-18h

(Original interview in German language)

Ulrich Vogl wollte eigentlich mal Diplomat werden, denn der Allgäuer Installationskünstler liebt es zu Reisen und neuen Menschen zu begegnen. Seine poetischen Werke fungieren als Katalysator für Träume. Mit Licht, Schatten, Spiegeln und scheinbar alltäglichen Objekten sollen sie Räume öffnen, deren Umgang neu erlernen - eine Traumwelt schaffen in der man versinken kann. Ulrich ist neugierig und scheut sich in seinem Arbeitsprozess nicht vor dem Zufall, ohne dabei Sorgfalt und Detailverliebtheit außer Acht zu lassen. Offen und überaus warmherzig ließ mich der Wahlberliner kürzlich in seinem Kreuzberger Atelier an Werkentstehungen, seinem Alltag und Geschichten seiner Vergangenheit teilhaben. So durfte artfridge auch schon mal einen Blick auf Ulrichs Werke richten, die er Ende April in der Berliner Galerie Opdahl ausstellen wird.

Anna-Lena Werner: Wo bist Du aufgewachsen?
Ulrich Vogl: Ich bin gebürtiger Allgäuer. Wegen meinem Studium bin ich nach München gezogen und von dort aus kam ich nach Berlin. Das war 1999. Zwischendurch hab ich noch eineinhalb Jahre in New York verbracht.

Anna: Wie bist Du zur Kunst gekommen?
Ulrich: Es kam eigentlich durch meinen älteren Bruder, der Kunst studiert hat. Natürlich wollte ich nicht dasselbe machen wie er, aber ich fand das Rumreisen immer so toll. Also dachte ich mir: ‘Dann wirst du eben Diplomat’. (lacht)

Anna: Plan B.
Ulrich: Genau. Ich hab circa ein Jahr Politik und Jura studiert. Dabei hab ich immer das schöne Leben meines Bruders gesehen und mich entschieden doch Kunst zu studieren. Ich hatte wohl eine komische Vorstellung vom Diplomaten-Dasein. Eigentlich ist mein Leben aber jetzt genau so wir ich mir das eines Diplomaten vorgestellt habe. Bei jeder Reise bekommt man innerhalb kürzester Zeit einen spannenden Querschnitt durch die Gesellschaft.

Anna: Hast Du dann direkt zu Beginn Installationen und Skulpturen gebaut?
Ulrich: Nein, ich hab mit riesigen Zeichnungen auf Papier angefangen, die ich, wie in einem Labyrinth, in Räume gespannt habe. Ich würde die jetzt nicht mehr in meine Mappe packen. Aber es gibt sie noch - zusammengerollt auf dem Dachboden von meiner Oma. Später habe ich mit dem Begriff ‘Erweiterung der Zeichnung’ gearbeitet - das heißt, Installationen bei denen Linien vorherrschend sind.

Anna: Erinnerst Du dich noch an Deine erste Ausstellung?
Ulrich: Meine erste Gruppenausstellung hatte ich mit 16, zusammen mit Sven Kroner und
Jürgen Heinert, bei der SPD im Allgäu. Meine erste Einzelausstellung war in der Kevin Kavanagh Galerie in Dublin - es war ein einziges Auf- und wieder Abhängen, der Galerist hat die Hände über dem Kopf zusammen geschlagen. Aber am Ende war es eine gute Ausstellung und ich war stolz wie Oskar.

Anna: Wie ist die Verbindung zu Dublin entstanden?
Ulrich: Das war Zufall. In New York hatte ich einen Kontakt der mich und andere DAAD Studenten zu einer Gruppenausstellung nach Irland eingeladen hat. Daraus ist dann später die Einzelausstellung entstanden und seither haben ich die Treue gehalten. Die Iren sind ein wahnsinnig herzliches Volk.

Anna: Wie sieht Deine Arbeitsroutine aus? Arbeitest Du Nachts?
Ulrich: Ne, gar nicht. (lacht) Ich will ja auch nicht mit 60 in Rente gehen, sondern lange so weiter machen. Meine Arbeitsroutine besteht vor Allem daraus, dass ich Sachen den ganzen Tag hin und her räume. Ich hole Material, dann baue ich Dies auf und Das ab, räume es wieder weg. Vieles entsteht über Zufälle. Irgendwann habe ich dann eine Idee und beginne an Details zu arbeiten.

Anna: Deine Werke entstehen also vielmehr aus Zufall, als durch einen Plan?
Ulrich: Genau. Meistens sehe ich etwas, dass ich spannend finde...

Anna: ...das wäre zum Beispiel?
Ulrich: Zum Beispiel wie die Sonne an einem Sommertag durchs Fenster scheint und auf dem Fensterbrett ein Blumentopf steht. Das ist ein irrsinniges Kino an der Wand. Man spürt das Licht, diese Kraft und die Bewegung der Pflanze. Und dann überlege ich mir, wie man das simulieren kann. Dann kommt ein Spiegel und etwas Klebeband, davor kommen ein paar abgebrochene Äste, ein Ventilator, sodass Bewegung entsteht; Licht darauf, und dann gibt es an der Wand genau diese Reflexion. So ist meine Arbeit ‘Fenster’ entstanden. Davon gibt es auch Variationen: November in Berlin, Frühling in Basel, Sommer in Griechenland - und jedes Mal gibt es andere Blätter.

Anna: Das ist eine sehr sehnsuchtsvolle Arbeit.
Ulrich: Ja, die hat man ja auch. (lacht) So kann man sich auf ganz einfache Art Träume erfüllen, oder man lernt mit Räumen anders umzugehen. Wie ein Katalysator für Träume, ein Anstoss.

Anna: Geht es auch um Geborgenheit?
Ulrich: Irgendwie schon, denn man ist ja drinnen. Es ist so ein bisschen wie im Film, wo man in eine andere Welt eintauchen kann und auf der anderen Seite ganz im Hier und Jetzt ist. Ich verstehe schon, dass man vielleicht traurig sein muss um eine gewisse Tiefe zu erreichen, aber ich selbst find es total wichtig glücklich im Leben zu sein. (lacht)

Anna: Das hört man selten von einem Künstler. Bist Du ein glücklicher Mensch?
Ulrich: Ja, ziemlich. Wenn ich sehr konzentriert auf eine Ausstellung hinarbeite gibt es natürlich Momente in denen es mir nicht gut geht. Es braucht dann manchmal diese Energie um am Ball zu bleiben und nicht aufzugeben.

Anna: Du lädst Dir regelmäßig Freunde in dein Atelier ein und hörst Dir ihre Meinungen über unvollständige Arbeiten an. Schadet Dir das nicht manchmal?
Ulrich: Es ist wichtig sehr viele zu fragen. So wie ich will, dass meine Arbeiten Katalysator für die Gedanken der Anderen sind, so finde ich es auch legitim eine Zusammenführung von vielen Gedanken zu spiegeln.

Anna: Sind Deine Arbeiten romantisch?
Ulrich: Diese Stimmungen haben schon etwas romantisches. Deswegen habe ich in der Form gerne etwas strenges als Gegenpol. Ich finde den Begriff der Romantik zwar schön, aber man wird auch schnell angreifbar, weil es nicht gerade ein cooles Wort ist. Aber das ist mir eigentlich egal. Ich finde ‘Conceptual Romanticism’ ganz gut. (lacht)

Anna: Wäre das nicht ein guter Titel für ein Manifest?
Ulrich: Es ist ein toller Begriff, aber es gibt schon ein Buch darüber.

Anna: Warum taucht der Vogelkäfig immer wieder in Deinen Werken auf?
Ulrich: Ich mag diese offen-geschlossenen Räume. Ein Käfig ist ja erstmal geschlossen. Aber die Türen lasse ich meist offen, zum Beispiel bei meiner Arbeit ‘Nine Clouds in a Cage’. Da ist ein kleiner Kosmos in dem Käfig, der aber nach wie vor auf den äußeren Kosmos reagiert - auf Bewegung, Wärme oder Licht. Es geht mir nicht so sehr um das Eingeschlossen-Sein, sondern um den Käfig als Schutzraum. Der interaktive Moment interessiert mich.

Anna: Du bindest in Deinen Arbeiten immer alle Entstehungsfaktoren mit in die Installation ein. Ein Projektor wird zum Protagonist, die Lampe steht mitten im Raum auf einem Sockel...
Ulrich: Ja, das stimmt. Bei einer meiner neuesten Arbeiten beleuchtet zum Beispiel ein Dia-Projektor ein Hamsterrad. Ich mag, dass es flimmert. Für mich ist es wie ein Super 8 Film. Ich glaube der Titel wird auch ‘Film’.

Anna: Und das Rad bleibt immer in Bewegung?
Ulrich: Ja, so 20 Minuten.

Anna: Und dann muss der Galerist immer wieder hingehen und das Rad anstupsen?
Ulrich: Nein (lacht), es ist noch nicht ganz entschieden. Vielleicht baue ich oben einen kleinen Motor an.

Anna: Die Technik der Bewegung spielt ja auch bei dem Plattenspieler mit der Glaskugel eine Rolle...
Ulrich: ...Ja, ich müsste die Arbeit ‘Radion’ übrigens auch mal ölen. Sie wird jetzt im Künstlerhaus Bethanien in der Gruppenausstellung ‘Berlin Status I’ gezeigt.

Anna: Hast Du schon einen Titel für Deine Einzelausstellung in der Galerie Opdahl?
Ulrich: Ja...da wollte ich dich noch mal nach deiner Meinung fragen...(Gelächter)

www.ulrich-vogl.de

Interview & Photos: Anna-Lena Werner

Ulrich Vogl - peindre d´abord une cage
27th of April 2012 – 16th of June 2012
Opening: Friday, 27th of April, 18-21h

Galerie Opdahl Berlin

Lindenstrasse 35

10969 Berlin

Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11-18h

COLOGNE: ART COLOGNE SNAPSHOTS

2012-04-18T01:43:00.002+02:00

From top: Diana Rattray at Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Booth Gallery Bernhard Bouche (Paris), Booth Rod Barton Gallery (London), Booth Schmidt & Handrup, Paul Gabrielli at Invisible Exports, Neo Rauch at David Zwirner, Siegfried Anzinger at Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thomas (Wien), Booth Figge von Rosen (CologneBooth Croy Nielsen (Berlin), Birgit Brenner at Eigen + Art, Rosemarie Trockel, Booth Galerie Lange + Pult (Zürich), Ulf Puder at Jochen Hempel (Berlin), Claus Richter at Clages (Cologne), Ninakarlin Prinz at Raum Drei (Cologne) and Booth Raum Drei

I love to come back to my hometown Cologne. Especially when there are so many events within a couple of days as right now in the Art Cologne 2012 week. The cosy fair is as exciting, as much as it is the same as every year: Contemporaries on the top floor, classics at the ground-floor. I collected some photographs of my favourite impressions, booths and works from the fair's preview today.

FEIST AND IRINA WERNING TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

2012-04-14T14:00:00.000+02:00

After Charles Saatchi's white and plain gallery space in London, I never thought that this was how I would meet Irina Werning's photographical before-and-after series 'Back to the Future' again. Feist's new video adorns 'Bittersweet Memories' with a smooth sound and shows a couple of the carefully re-staged retro photographs.

COLOGNE: HENRIK VIBSKOV'S FUNNY CREATURES

2012-04-12T15:52:00.000+02:00

If you are into Scandinavian fashion design and avantgarde-clothes you surely have heard of Henrik Vibskov. Ten years ago, just after his graduation at London's famous Central Saint Martin's college, the Danish fashion designer started his career. What most people don't know: He is also doing art - installations and sculptures, funny creatures, colorful, organically shaped - and already exhibited his art works in museum spaces, such as PS1 MoMA. Vibskov's exhibition at Galerie Ruttowski68 in Cologne opens tomorrow, Friday the 13th of April, from 20-23h.

HENRIK VIBSKOV
14th April - 20th of May 2012
Opening: 13th of April, 20-23h

Gallery Ruttkowski68
Bismarckstrasse 68
59672 Cologne, Germany
Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 15-20h, Saturday - Sunday, 17 - 20h, Tue: closed

WAITING EVER SO PATIENTLY FOR MATT CORBY

2012-04-11T22:00:00.001+02:00

WOW! He is such a genius - a weird crossbreed between Antony Hegarty's voice, surfer-boy or Jeff Bridges (is his young days) looks and Damien Rice's aching passion. Accompanied by the sounds of an acoustic guitar or a piano, Matt Corby has made some smart decisions cooperating with Julia Stone or Feist. Therefore I am happily ignoring the fact that he participated in 'Australian Idol' five years ago (and here in Germany that doesn't sound so bad anyway) and cannot wait to see Corby perform on the 27th of April at Roter Salon in Berlin. There are still some tickets left!

BERLIN: UNTITLED (ABSENCE) EXHIBITION VIEWS

2012-04-10T12:27:00.000+02:00

Photography by Lela Ahmadzai, paintings and installation by Lars Bjerre, Photos by artfridge

Happy delayed easter everyone! We had a great opening of the show "Untitled (absence)" last Thursday. I curated this exhibition with artworks by Lela Ahmadzai and Lars Bjerre at Savvy Contemporary in Berlin. The adventurous combination of photography from Afghanistan and paintings from Denmark resulted in a coherent, but also unsettling juxtaposition. I really love the homelike atmosphere of the exhibition space underlining the nostalgic aura enclosing the works of art. We have made an online-catalogue, including texts by art journalist and artfridge's London correspondent Amy Sherlock, philosopher Christian Struck, Savvy Contemporary founder and director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and me. You can read it by simply clicking on the catalogue's cover below.
On the 21st of April at 19h there will be a film screening by Creative Despite War, two filmmakers who travelled to Afghanistan interviewing and exploring the young art scene in Kabul.
We look forward to see you there!

Untitled (absence)
until the 28th of April

Savvy Contemporary
Richardstraße 43/44
12055 Berlin
Opening Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 16-20h

COPENHAGEN: MIE OLISE'S SILENT STATION

2012-04-04T00:42:00.001+02:00

Den Tavse Station, Mie Olise, Photo: Rasmus Kvist

'Den Tavse Station' (The Silent Station) by Mie Olise. Currently shown at Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen. Until the 13th of May.

BERLIN: INTERVIEW WITH SANTIAGO YDANEZ

2012-03-30T16:05:00.001+02:00

Supersized canvases, theatrical portraits, stuffed-out deers - thats how we know Santiago Ydanez’ art work. In his recent exhibition "Gracias por todo" in Berlin, however, he put his most funny paintings on display. The spanish artist can celebrate great success, but he is very much down to earth - and, against all my expectations, incredibly cheerful. He is all smiles and his laughter is contagious. Last week we spend an afternoon in his Berlin-based gallery Invaliden1, talking about his passion for animals, big and fast brushstrokes and existentialism. Click here or below to see the whole interview...

photos by Lars Bjerre

Anna: What is the concept of your current show “Gracias por Todo” at Invaliden1 in Berlin?
Santiago: This exhibition is fun - it is different than most of my other shows. Some of my friends gave me photos that I used for the paintings in this show. But it is just the first part - in the second part there will be curator involved.

Anna: Who are these people? Do you know their stories?
Santiago: I don’t know where all of the photos came from. But the big painting, for example, is based on a photo that Sergio Belinchon, another artist in this gallery, gave me. I shows a magnetic boy from Croatia and his family. The magnet family. They somehow remind me of the characters in the movie “The Chainsaw Massacre”. I think the painting is quite tragic and serious, but the background is really comical.

Anna: What about the painting with the girl. Why does she have a bird in her mouth?
Santiago: Maybe she eats it, but maybe it is just a kiss. This work is the closest to my regular paintings, because I have frequently mixed the images of animals and human beings. I got this picture from a friend of my childhood.

Anna: Who gave you the picture with the cat?
Santiago: Noe Sendas did. It is his cat. He is an artist in this gallery, too.

Anna: And who are the two little boys with the fringe?
Santiago: This is me when I was six years old. The left painting is by a Korean friend of mine and the right one is my version.

Anna: This exhibition is very colourful and bright, whereas most of your other works are rather based on earth tones and black and white...
Santiago: ...When the colour is interesting and important to me then I use oil colours, in order to highlight that and because it gives me more time to work on transitions. My other works are all made of acrylic, which dries much faster.

Anna: Are you a fast painter?
Santiago: Yes, on one big canvas I paint maybe two to three hours. But it takes me a long time to figure out the image.

Anna: The canvases’ size and also the brushstrokes seem to have shrunk in this show, compared to your usual works.
Santiago: In most of the works my technique is still the same, but in the painting with the bird’s wing, for instance, I worked a lot with small details. However, after a while I couldn’t stand it anymore and just continued with thicker brushstrokes again. The thing is that I usually get really nervous and annoyed when painting details. (laughs)

Anna: Is that the reason why you usually work with extremely large-scaled canvases?
Santiago: I paint large because the process of painting is expressive for me. My movements’ and my body’s relationship with a big canvas is just different. The energy is important to me. Once I painted on an eight times twelve meter canvas. I spend two days preparing it and doing the drawings, but the actual painting process only took me one hour.

Anna: Your paintings are very expressive, too. Besides those works shown in this exhibition, they are often archaic, tragic and dramatic. Is the world a cruel and brutal place to you?
Santiago: I think the ambiguity is interesting. Expressions, such as a smiling could give a hint to happiness, but it could also emerge out of madness. I mean, I have been reading and been inspired by several existentialist writers. I really enjoy reading Thomas Bernhard, for example. He writes extremely dramatic, but I find his texts humorous, too. I think, it is impossible to be dramatic without a little humor involved. (laughs)

Anna: Do you think that the humorous aspects in your work are underestimated?
Santiago: Yes, possibly. But the magnetic boy is undeniably funny. (laughs)

Anna: You also seem to be inspired by many art historian references, such as from the renaissance period.
Santiago: Yes. Hans Holbein or Diego Velazquez, for example, painted many portraits, but those faces are universal. Impersonal. That is inspiring to me and for my understanding of portraits and self-portraits.

Anna: Do you enjoy painting?
Santiago: Very much, it is like hypnosis. About ten years ago I had an incredible tooth-pain, but I had to finish a work. Once I started painting the pain was completely gone. In the second I finished the work, the pain came back with the same intensity as before. It must be something about the concentration.

Anna: Do you have one favorite piece? A painting that is very special to you?
Santiago: I have many (he looks through one of his catalogues and then points at one of his untitled self-portraits from 1998) - this one is important to me, I think that was the first big face that I painted.

Anna: Why don’t you title your work?
Santiago: It’s difficult and too manipulating. I like to keep it open. But sometimes I find a funny word and then I use it. For example, I titled one of the big faces ‘Cabidela’, which is a traditional rice and chicken dish from Portugal.

Anna: What is your next project?
Santiago: I have a show in Mexico opening in two days. This exhibition will be very sweet and beautiful - the title is “Soft’. It includes many pictures of animals - dogs, cats, horses - on big canvases.

Anna: Why is it so fascinating for you to paint animals?
Santiago: I grew up in a very small town with 2000 people, in the province of Jaen in Andalucia in Spain. I was always surrounded by animals - we lived close to a natural park and I just hated that everyone was hunting. My father once shot a rabbit and my mother cooked it. I remember that she took off the skin, aggressively taking the animal apart, while talking sweetly about her nieces. That was harsh.

Anna: Did you ever have a plan b, in case you wouldn’t become an artist?
Santiago: Actually, my first choice was to become a paleontologist.

Anna: Was that because of Jurassic Park?
Santiago: Maybe.

Interview, 21.03.2012: Anna-Lena Werner

Photography: Lars Bjerre

Gracias por todo
until the 31st of March 2012

Invaliden1 Galerie
Brunnenstraße 22
10119 Berlin, Germany

www.santiagoydanez.com

HAVE WE MET? FRESH GUACAMOLE

2012-03-28T14:59:00.000+02:00

BERLIN: HAUL IN, COUSIN

2012-03-23T22:33:00.000+01:00

installation views: Andrew Kerr, „Haul In, Cousin“, BQ, Berlin; images from top, works by Andrew Kerr: The Present V, 2012; Rack RACK, 2011/12; Untitled, 2009; Courtesy BQ, Berlin; The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Photo: Roman Maerz, Berlin

A labyrinth of wooden panels, sunlight shining through the gallery's large windows, grey brick stones, the smell of fresh acrylic and right at the end of each corridor several DIN-A4-sized abstract paintings. 'Haul In, Cousin' at BQ gallery in Berlin is an inviting and warm-coloured exhibition with paintings (mostly on paper) and a site-specific installation by Andrew Kerr. Forms, geometric and soft brushstrokes, earth and flesh colours, viscerality paired with the smell of fresh pink roses - Kerr overpaints former figuration, creating an ambiguous perceptibility, questioning form and definition. A bird, an arm, a landscape seem to evolve out of the background, but at a closer look the shapes dissolve into pure abstraction. There is no quick determination, neither a sudden understanding of Kerr's use of material. Canvas and wood, paper and frames serve as a base for the artist's seemingly thought through expressionism. A technique that hauls the viewer from room to room, from one work to the next, getting lost between space and surface.

Andrew Kerr - 'Haul In, Cousin'

until 14th of April 2012

BQ - Jörn Bötnagel and Yvonne Quirmbach

Weydingerstraße 10

10178 Berlin-Mitte