CINDY SHERMAN
A Play of Selves
May 23 – June 15, 2007
Opening: Wednesday, May 23, 6-8pm

“A Play of Selves / Act 2-Scene 2”, 1975
black and white photograph mounted on board
45 x 38.1 cm
© Cindy Sherman

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are delighted to exhibit ‘A Play of Selves,’ Cindy Sherman’s seminal work from 1975 at their Grafton Street gallery in London.

In the introduction to the recently published catalogue for ‘A Play of Selves’ (Hatje Cantz, 2007), Sherman states: “This is the only work I’ve ever done that was consciously autobiographical.”

American photographer and film-maker Cindy Sherman, born 1954 in New Jersey is known for her conceptual self-portraits in which she fully transforms herself into different personas with the use of make-up, costumes, play acting and even prosthesis. Sherman’s work questions visual representation by addressing the false naturalness of photography, in particular the images of women which are promoted by mass culture such as movies, television and magazines as reality. Some of her most important series of works include “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-1980), “Centerfolds” (1982), “Disasters” (1986-1989), “History Portraits/Old Masters” (1988-1990) “Sex Pictures” (1992), and “Clowns” (2003-2004).

‘A Play of Selves’ comprises 72 photographic assemblages which Cindy Sherman cut out of black and white prints in 1975 during her last college year in Buffalo, New York, and marks one of the first uses of herself as a subject in staged photographs. Having originally used the cut-out figures for an animated film (‘Doll Clothes,’ 1976) she soon realized that the figures could interact with each other. A film script developed, the story of a young woman overwhelmed by various alter-egos working at odds with her and her final conquering of self-doubt, played out in four acts and a finale with 16 separate characters. The scenes incorporate the allegoric figures ‘Madness,’ ‘Vanity,’ ‘Agony’ and ‘Desire’ that evoke the conflicting aspects of the female protagonist, which appears in different situations as ‘Broken Woman,’ ‘The Actual Main Character’ and ‘The Character as Others see Her.’ Only at the end does ‘Broken Women’ become the ‘Actual Main Character.’

Cindy Sherman lives and works in New York City. Since the 1980’s, her work has been collected by major private and institutional collections worldwide. Most recently, a large-scale retrospective organized by the Jeu de Paume, Paris travelled to Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria and is currently on view at the Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst, Denmark until May 20, concluding at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (15 June – 17 September 2007).

‘A Play of Selves’ will be on view at Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, 7A Grafton Street, from May 23, 2007 through June 15, 2007. Opening Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm and by appointment.

Sprueth Magers

A manifold is an abstract mathematical space in which every point has a neighborhood which resembles Euclidean space, but in which the global structure may be more complicated.

Helene Nyborg

JOHANSSON & JOHANSSON

May 24th – June 29th, 2007

OPENING
THURSDAY, MAY 24 2007, 5-8 PM

Participating artists:
Lena Johansson and Andreas Johansson

English version

Andreas Johansson (SWE) works with handmade photographic collages, where photography’s of landscapes, roads and buildings are cut up and put back together again in a different and apparently logic way, but so precisely that the joints are not immediately noticeable to the viewer. Johansson plays with surface and depth and confronts the viewer with images of public spaces that seem easily recognisable and appear well known. One seems to be observing a realistic space that is represented in natural dimensions. The concept that these fictive spaces might not exist in real life – but only in Andreas Johansson’s universe – seems remote. Gradually the conceptual structure behind the images is revealed. The eternally blue, cloudless sky, the lack of any horizon and the strange way the trees are reflected in the Dace-baths all disclose unnerving aspects of a reality that is devoid of any human presence. However, it is only seemingly that all life has abandoned the worn-down and graffiti-covered buildings, the ruined tennis court and the slightly too green swimming pool. For between the cracks in the asphalt, in the middle of the tennis court and behind the buildings nature is bursting forth.
Andreas Johansson was born in 1977 and educated at the Konstskolan Idun Lovén and the Konsthögskolan in Malmö (2006). This spring his work may also be seen at Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm.

In Lena Johansson’s (SWE) portraits, women are depicted as sensual creatures and figures that have been staged. She finds inspiration for her paintings in the world of fashion and advertising. However, Lena Johansson’s portraits of women are painted with an intuitive sensitivity that raises them above the often stereotypical images seen in commercials and fashion magazines. Lena Johansson utilizes this honest and intuitive approach as a specific mode de travail. It requires her acceptance of the natural and uncensored self that the models are such a contrast to. This straightforwardness is important exactly because the images that she draws upon and alters are all about accepting a fabricated picture of her inner self. In other words, Lena Johansson represents herself via models, thereby using ”their” body language and aura to be able to portray herself from her early teenage years up to today.
Lena Johansson was born in 1975 and received her education at Konstskolan Idun Lovén, Den Kungliga Konsthögskolan in Stockholm and Malmö Konsthögskola (2007). Her latest works have been exhibited at bendixen contemporary art and Brändström & Stene in Stockholm.

Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 12-17, Saturday 11-14
Please note that the entrence at Carl Jacobsensvej 20, stairway 20 is being renovated from week 21 – 31, 2007. Please use entrence 6 or 11 during this period.

www.bendixen-art.dk

Jim Shaw ‘Distorted Faces & Portraits, 1978 – 2007’

BFAS
Blondeau Fine Art Services SA, Geneva
5, rue de la Muse
1205 Genève – Switzerland

Bfas Blondeau

Ville Lenkkeri

REALITY IN THE MAKING

25 May – 30 June

The opening show will take place on the 24th of May, 2007, 5pm – 8pm.

PL Gallery

Perugi artecontemporanea – via Giordano Bruno 24 b – Padova

Chris Gilmour
Disposable

IN THE B SIDE ROOM
Neil Farber
Please Give Blood

Curated by Guido Bartorelli

opening Saturday 26th May 2007
From 6,30 pm onwards (until 20th September 2007)

Galleria Perugi is proud to present solo shows by two internationally successful artists, the Canadian Neil Farber, also famous for his work as a member of the Royal Art Lodge, and the English artist Chris Gilmour, resident in Italy for a number of years.
Farber presents Please Give Blood, a huge multi-element drawing made up of sixteen sheets of paper. The large space gives full rein to the ineffable creatures which fill his visions, perhaps never before shown in such an exquisitely cruel and dream-like way.
As always, Gilmour concentrates on the re-thinking of sculpture and sculptural language. His technical ability has reached such a level as to allow him to duplicate segments of reality with incredible precision, the only difference being the material- scrap cardboard. The “parallel reality” he creates thus becomes invalidated by a kind of original factory defect which makes it humble and fragile, but which is at same time of great poetic fascination.
Disposable is the title of this new series of works which draw their subject matter directly from the artistic tradition. These works are derived from the statues and busts often present in public spaces, their function to make eternal the memory of some illustrious man of history, but these are men whose great deeds are so often irredeemable forgotten.
The shows are curated by Guido Bartorelli.

Perugi Art

Berlingske

Larm Galleri

New very cool works

Charlotte Fogh

PETER FISCHLI & DAVID WEISS
“EQUILIBRES”
May 15 – July 28, 2007

Natürliche Grazie, 1984/86
C-Print, 40 x 30 cm
© Peter Fischli & David Weiss

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present the photographic series EQUILIBRES by Peter Fischli and David Weiss at their Munich Gallery.

In their work, the artists employ a wide variety of artistic means of expression, ranging from film, photography and artists’ books to sculptures and multimedia installations. They adapt everyday objects and situations which they place – not without humour or irony – in an artistic context, thus raising philosophical and theoretical questions regarding the explanation of the world.

The photographs EQUILIBRES were created in the years 1984 and 1986. It is a series of 82 black-and-white and colour photographs showing assemblages of everyday objects. The attention is drawn to an dizzying construction, with gravity seemingly working in reverse, creating a state of suspension which cancels the weight and the value of the individual components. This is also summarized in the subheading of the EQUILIBRES of Peter Fischli and David Weiss: „Am schönsten ist das Gleichgewicht, kurz bevor’s zusammenbricht.“ („Balance is most beautiful just before it collapses.“)

Precarious and often on the verge of collapse, the photographs with their suggestive titles are reminiscent of thought experiments and evoke the familiar Surrealist image of the „chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissection table“ (Lautréamont). The titles alternately function as accurate summaries of the sculptural situation, as in the case of the SCHLUMMERSCHLINGE (SLUMBER SNARE) or as anecdotic descriptions.

In their new EQUILIBRES artists’ book, Peter Fischli and David Weiss have often assigned different titles to one and the same motif.

A smaller selection of the EQUILIBRES was presented for the first time in 1985 in the exhibition STILLER NACHMITTAG (QUIET AFTERNOON) at Monika Sprüth Gallery, Cologne, at the Kunsthalle Basel and at the Groningen Museum, accompanied by the artists’ book of the same title.

Peter Fischli (b. 1952) and David Weiss (b. 1946) live and work in Zurich. They became internationally known through their film DER LAUF DER DINGE (THE WAY THINGS GO) which was shown at the DOCUMENTA in Kassel in 1987. Peter Fischli and David Weiss have represented Switzerland in numerous international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and were awarded the Golden Lion in 2003.

Their large retrospective FLOWERS & QUESTIONS was first shown at the Tate Modern in London in Autumn 2006 and travelled afterwards to the Musée d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Kunsthalle Zürich and the Deichtorhallen Hamburg.

For further information or visual material please contact Julia Weiß.

Sprueth Magers

www.spruethmagers.com