Sculpture Show
Athanasios Argianas
Art & Language
Mel Bochner
Susan Collis
Michael Dean
Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez
Lothar Hempel
Torsten Lauschmann
Marko Lulic
David Medalla
Scott Myles
Elizabeth Price
Tommy Støckel
Sue Tompkins
Franz West
Month: April 2009
Stefan Löffelhardt
Stefan Löffelhardt is a landscape painter who does not use the classic painting utensils of a paintbrush and canvas. At ScheiblerMitte the artist has taken commonplace objects such plastic film, Styrofoam, Plexiglas, or potted plants to transform the entire exhibition space into a bizarre and utopian landscape. The visitor does not remain a passive observer but is drawn into the installation, becoming a figure in an accessible landscape and thus an integrated element within the artwork. The negation of the confrontation between viewer and work of art, the democratic equilibrium of individual units as well as the decentralized composition are the artistic means to create a „symbol for a non-hierarchical discourse.“ Hence, Löffelhardt’s application of the traditional landscape genre is broader, encompassing a „landscape of ideas and of the spirit“. The art historical references in Löffelhardt’s works range from the sweeping scenery of the Dutch Baroque, as represented by Jacob van Ruisdael, to Tiepolo’s graduated skies as well as the mountains and solitudes of Romanticism. Such epochal allusions are also apparent in his photographs, which complement and translate the installations into another medium. In these irreal yet idyllic places, green and blue plastic tarps, gold foil, and everyday items are so finely composed that the observer is unsure whether he hears the crashing of the waves or the crinkling of plastic.
Stefan Löffelhardt’s most recent solo exhibition was at the Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck (March/April 2009). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships for his work, including repeated support from the Stiftung Kunstfonds in Bonn.
SMOCKSHOP PRESENTED BY ANDREA ZITTEL
SMOCKSHOP PRESENTED BY ANDREA ZITTEL
The smockshop is an artist run enterprise that generates income for artists whose work is either non-commercial, or not yet self sustaining. We produce and sell smocks: a simple double wrap around garment designed by Andrea Zittel – then sewn by artists who often reinterpret the original design based on their individual skill sets, tastes and interests. As an active testament to Zittel’s principle that “rules make us more creative”, each resulting smock is completely unique and one of a kind.
Meryl Donoghue ‘Once Upon A Lie.
Robert Elfgen at Sprueth Magers Berlin
Ian Pedigo
Rokeby announces the first solo exhibition in the UK by Ian Pedigo.
American sculptor Ian Pedigo composes objects and collages from seemingly abandoned materials; scraps of wood, ends of material, electrical tape, plastic cups, Plexiglas, magazine pages. However regardless of how throwaway the materials appear, the artist’s arrangements retain a potent visual coherence whilst the ephemeral is eloquently articulated through the components.
One is inclined to read the assemblages as akin to other things in the world; a landscape, urban emblem or architectural form but the viewer is constantly reminded that the work is made up of jettisoned parts which are assembled into forms that retain a sense of functionality thus generating a dialogue about the literal, physical and imaginative qualities of objects. Details original to the objects such as stains or tears are evident, though the artist’s sparse touches of colour or line and the prudent sense of structure hint at something far from unintentional and ask that we take a closer look at the fragments and remnants of that which surround us.
Considered as contemporary relic’s or artifacts it is noteworthy that Pedigo has recently developed his interest in archaeology. Like Walter Benjamin’s concern with the ruin, Pedigo’s selected materials retain a similar value in residuum, as something that has passed through a history, or has the marks of a process on it. The significance of that history lies in its reconstruction and interpretation, remaining sensitive to its relevance in the present. In a similar vein the technique of montage construction and its temporal aspects were admired by Benjamin, and can be considered in relation to Pedigo’s practice; for Benjamin montage was important for precisely its ability ‘to interrupt the context into which it is inserted’.*
Ian Pedigo was born in Anchorage, Alaska; he lives and works in Long Island City, New York. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and has had solo shows at Pianissimo, Milan and Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, Brooklyn alongside a recent solo exhibition at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger, Paris. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Peter Blum and D’amelio Terras, New York amongst others. Pedigo’s work has been written about in publications including Artforum, Frieze, Art Review and The New York Times.
