For this exhibition, we only present works that are black. Naturally, the initial visual impression made by the works is influenced by their silhouette. These shapes are created using various artistic techniques: From minimalistic prints to photography, collages, sculptures, and installations.
But not all blacks are created equally. The materials used result in a variety of surfaces, influencing how deeply one can look into a work. Florian Pumhösl’s meticulous reverse glass paintings Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 and 29 (replication of image no. 27 and 29) is a perfect example of this, as is the pigment painting untitled by Günter Umberg.
For me, a completely different aspect of the works is important, too: The context, the artist’s intention, the story that lies behind the work.
The large paperwork by Emily Jacir (From Paris to Riyadh (Drawings for my mother) Juin / Juillet 1990) is based on a magazine that she brought from Paris to her mother in Riyadh. Page for page, she covered up the skin of the portrayed models with India ink, in compliance with the moral laws there. Wade Guyton’s cross X sculpture was originally meant to direct the viewer’s gaze to a particular point in the landscape. In the context of an exhibition space, it is the agitated surface of the work itself that draws one in, not least of all by its color. Completely different aspects of the work emerge here.
The deflated clay Balloon is a portrait that Rodney McMillian created while Michael Jackson was still alive. The height of the pedestal corresponds to that of the pop star, while the form and the texture of the head, which disintegrates over time, speaks for itself.
Martin Boyce took a design icon of the twentieth century – a Jacobsen Chair – and brutally destroyed it. Then, using metal rails that Charles Eames used to build his storage devices, Boyce endowed it with a new delicate balance. His Mobile (For 1056 endless heights) is a clear reference to Alexander Calder, bringing the destroyed chair into the classical context of the fine arts.
For Everybody wants a piece of Dracula, Daragh Reeves cut up a VHS copy of the famous Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi according to the lengths of the original film edits. The result is an installation in which the blood runs down the wall, figuratively speaking. The strips of videotape move with a ghostly flutter whenever the door opens.
Axel Haubrok

Mobile (For 1056 endless heights), 2002

Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 und 29, 2009
List of works
Martin Boyce
Phantom limb (Sister), 2003
Martin Boyce
Mobile (For 1056 endless heights), 2002
Tom Burr
Put down III, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #8, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #12, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #17, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #19, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #24, 2003
Wade Guyton
Acria #25, 2003
Wade Guyton
untitled, 2008
Wade Guyton
untitled, 2006
Wade Guyton
X sculpture, 2005
Emily Jacir
From Paris to Riyadh (Drawings for my mother) Juin / Juillet 1990, 1999–2001
Rodney McMillian
untitled (From the series The clampetts), 2010
Rodney McMillian
Balloon, 2006
Stephen Prina
untitled, 2008
Florian Pumhösl
Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27, 2009
Florian Pumhösl
Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 29, 2009
Florian Pumhösl
Aushang #1, 2007
Florian Pumhösl
Aushang #2, 2007
Daragh Reeves
Everybody wants a piece of Dracula, 2003
Davis Rhodes
untitled, 2007
Davis Rhodes
untitled, 2007
Günter Umberg
untitled, 1988/1989
Christopher Wool
untitled, 2001