calendario eventi  :: 

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24/4/2012

Two exhibitions

Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich

MELANIE SMITH

Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to present the fifth solo exhibition of Melanie Smith. Born in 1965 in Dorset, England, with a degree in Fine Arts from Reading University, UK, the artist has lived in Mexico City since 1989. Her first-hand experience with the contradictions inherent in the worldʼs third largest megalopolis that is undergoing rapid economic and cultural expansion is intrinsic to her practice. Smith will show her recent work that consists of the video Elevador (07ʼ46”), several new paintings, and sculptural pieces.

Elevador is the story of the lift in Melanie Smithʼs building that has constant operational problems, and is constantly patched to work for short term. The film is full of surreal situations that go round in circles and donʼt make sense. The elevator seems to have its own mind and is constantly going up and down. Every time the door opens, reality appears to dissipate more and more. For the artist, this is a metaphor for modernity in general in Mexico: “It never catches up on itself, and it stutters and stammers onto the next phase and is full of unreal solutions”. Somehow it all works and everything goes on, but nothing is perfect, and yet people are happy.

The sculptures and paintings continue the playful disconnection from reality apparent in the video, and act as an introduction and reference to what can be seen in the film. Every time becoming more abstract, Smithʼs paintings create an elusive pictorial space that somehow interrupts reality, but at the same time does not define it. They break with the world and yet form another world, just like the sculptural pieces do. From geometric forms, colors, and undefined shapes to pieces that have much to do with the body, like fingers (see invitation card), lips and brains, they all slip into a zone of uncertainty as some kind of potential.

After her great success of representing Mexico in the 54 Venice Biennial in 2011, Melanie Smith will open her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany at the Villa Merkel, in Esslingen (near Stuttgart) on April 22 . A comprehensive catalogue will be published on this occasion.

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CLAUDIA & JULIA MÜLLER

The galleryʼs project spaces are dedicated to new works of Claudia and Julia Müller. The sisters have been collaborating since 1992 and are renowned for their complex wall drawings, installations, works on paper, and video pieces. In their artistic work, Claudia and Julia Müller are on the outlook for opposite and contradictory imageries, which they combine to create fantastic pictorial worlds. Their works often deal with human relationships and power structures. The light-footedness with which they combine various visual elements and techniques is a signature quality of these two artists.

Claudia and Julia Müller will present works from their most recent series, in which they focus on the theme of “nothing” or “no thing”. With their colorful drawings (acrylic and pencil on paper and canvas, from 45x60 cm), the artist couple goes in search of the moment of creation in the artistic process, in which something takes form without yet being fully shaped. In consequence, the works appear to in a perpetual shift between form and abstraction. When speaking about their work process, Claudia and Julia Müller note that they are on a constant lookout for patterns. The artists find these in the psychology of behavior, theory models or content structures, but also in optic repetitions and visual schemes.

Concepts and counter-concepts are central to the three large and six smaller works from the second new series “Habitus versus Habitat” that are shown in the rear exhibition room. Opposites dominate in these pictures, and concepts that are in conflict to each other, such as the Carnivor and Herbivor (see invitation card, acrylic and pencil on paper, framed 32x23,5 cm). Not only do plant-eating herbivores keep a different diet to meat-eating carnivores, they may become a food source themselves as the case may be. According to oneʼs angle of view the herbivore becomes subject or object, the eater or the food. The ambiguous figure of the herbivore compactly illustrates how definition is dependent on hierarchy.

Opening: April 25th, 6 pm – 8 pm. The artists will be present for the opening.

Galerie Peter Kilchmann
Limmatstrasse 270, Zurich
Tue – Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Sat 11:00 – 17:00
Admission free

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