Silke Otto-Knapp
dal 24/3/2010 al 22/5/2010
Segnalato da
24/3/2010
Silke Otto-Knapp
Kunstverein Munchen, Munich
The exhibition Many many women will bring together paintings that depict very different scenes, characters and constellations, not following a particular plot, biography or chronology. Using layers of watercolour and gouache on canvas, figures and backdrops emerge and define the pictorial space, while exploring the settings in which women have appeared and performed throughout the history of modernity.
Kunstverein Munchen is happy to present the solo-show Many many women by London-based painter Silke Otto-Knapp (*1970, Osnabruck). The exhibition focuses on Otto-Knapp's most recent body of work, exploring the different facets in which the artist combines a historic pictorial syntax with her interest in staged spaces, scenarios and gestures. Otto-Knapp investigates how the 'culture' of painting might be situated within a wider notion of shared culture: for instance in the abstract language of modern dance, the spatial staging of formal gardens or theatrical interiors and designs.
The exhibition Many many women takes its title from an essay by Gertrude Stein. In 1927/28 Stein collaborated with composer Virgil Thomson on an opera called 'Four Saints in Three Acts' which was first staged in 1934 with an all black cast. Sets and costumes were designed by the painter and poet Florine Stettheimer (1871 - 1944), who also features prominently in a number of Silke Otto-Knapp's recent paintings. The exhibition Many many women will bring together paintings that depict very different scenes, characters and constellations, not following a particular plot, biography or chronology. Using layers of watercolour and gouache on canvas, figures and backdrops emerge and define the pictorial space, while exploring the settings in which women have appeared and performed throughout the history of modernity.
Many many women is part of a series of exhibitions in Munich, entitled Farbe Bekennen with exhibitions at Haus der Kunst, Lenbachhaus, Alte Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne. In this combination of different generations of painting exhibitions, the particular objective of Kunstverein Munchen is to explore a conceptual approach to the medium, aiming to expand the frame of the canvas into a three-dimensional podium. As such, a contemporary form of art production is joined with the unique and outstanding academic history of the Kunstverein Munchen - still reflected in the exhibition spaces, both in terms of location and architectural dimensions. The heritage of pictorial space will take the center stage in its opening exhibitions - as well as spatial composition or artistic material - and provides a reflective backdrop for which to identify a post-conceptual practice that advocates a political dimension in display, memory and representation.
Solo shows:
2009, Banff Art Centre (Banff), Modern Art Oxford (Oxford), Overduin and Kite (Los Angeles); 2007, Galerie Daniel Buchholz (Cologne), Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo), Gavin Brownʼs enterprise (New York); 2005, Tate Britain (London).
Opening 25. March 2010, 18.30h
Kunstverein Munchen
Galeriestrasse 4 - Munich
Opening hours Tue-Sun 10am-6am