Saturday, March 24, 2012

EXHIBITIONS AROUND TOWN


 Köln

John Stezaker
2 March – 7 April 2012

Water, waves, waterfalls and torrents feature in this new exhibition of collages by John Stezaker. Vintage publicity photographs of singers and singing groups from the 1940s and 50s are abstracted by a postcard image of water, giving old images new meaning. These works are fragmented and dislocated and explore the unknown and uncanny.

Particularly captivating was the portraiture series in which Stezaker erases the eyes of the subject by replacing them with the postcard of gushing and rolling water. Eerie and surreal, these images bring forth flashes of cavernous skulls and horror stills from films of a bygone era. 

Spanning three rooms and showing over forty works, this exhibition is a wonderful example of great collage and the practice of an important contemporary artist. A must see.

John Stezaker Siren III, 2011 Collage 23,3 x 20,8 cm Courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Köln

Sören Siebel
‘Puffer’
9 - 16 March 2012
Sören Siebel’s latest exhibition at Galerie Mela Chu is a fabulous example of incorporating audience participation. In the front window of the gallery, an enormous white plastic bag comes to life as an industrial-sized fan blows it toward the sidewalk audience. As the plastic bag waves and floats, passers by stop and become transfixed by the simplicity of the installation. Watching them is magnetic; confused, self-conscious, interested and entertained – the pedestrians were anything but bored.


Unfortunately the exhibition finished this week but look out for another amusing installation by Siebel!

Monica Hansebakken – Georg Küttinger
‘Mountains’
1 March – 12 April 2012

Art Galerie 7 is holding a two-person exhibition centred on the theme of landscape. Exhibiting the paintings by Monica Hansebakken together with photographs by Georg Küttinger gives a nice sample of both realist abstracted landscape practices.

Hansebakken’s abstract and colourful paintings of mountains and ranges are like sickly sweet cones of gelato. The forms, in lollypop colours, create high peaks that sit within an aqua sky. Even more enticing are the blocks of engraved surfaces throughout the works that show the raw wooden board beneath. Floral-engraved patterns together with the candy colours brings forth feminine and bright paintings that excite the eye.

Check it out if you enjoy decorative and fun painting.

Untitled (Jirishanca 1), 62 x 62cm, 2011 Courtesy Art Galerie 7

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