Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes
Installation view

Shapes

January 13 – April 2, 2011
Strausberger Platz, Berlin

Martin Boyce, Tom Burr, Wade Guyton, Emily Jacir, Rodney McMillian, Stephen Prina, Florian Pumhösl, Daragh Reeves, Davis Rhodes, Günter Umberg, Christopher Wool

Opening: January 13, 2011, 7 – 9 pm

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

Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes
Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes, Installation view
Shapes
Installation view
Wade Guyton, X Sculpture (2005)
Wade Guyton, X Sculpture (2005)
Wade Guyton, X Sculpture (2005)
Wade Guyton
X Sculpture, 2005
Martin Boyce, Mobile (For 1056 endless heights) (2002)
Martin Boyce, Mobile (For 1056 endless heights) (2002)
Martin Boyce, Mobile (For 1056 endless heights) (2002)
Martin Boyce
Mobile (For 1056 endless heights), 2002
Florian Pumhösl, Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 und 29 (2009)
Florian Pumhösl, Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 und 29 (2009)
Florian Pumhösl, Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 und 29 (2009)
Florian Pumhösl
Vervielfältigung von Bild No. 27 und 29, 2009
Rodney McMillian, Balloon (2006)
Rodney McMillian, Balloon (2006)
Rodney McMillian, Balloon (2006)
Rodney McMillian
Balloon, 2006
Tom Burr, Put down III (2003)
Tom Burr, Put down III (2003)
Tom Burr, Put down III (2003)
Tom Burr
Put down III, 2003

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