The show will feature the work of three contemporary German artists, Stephan Baumkotter, Andreas Karl Schulze, Ulrich Wellmann & British artist Tom Benson.
Opening Tuesday October 14th, 6 to 9 PM
Works by Stephan Bamkötter, Tom Benson, Andreas Karl Schulze and Ulrich Wellmann
Exhibition Curated by Tom Benson
Gallery N. von Bartha is pleased to announce the forthcoming exhibition, A
Painting, which will feature the work of three contemporary German artists,
Stephan Baumkötter, Andreas Karl Schulze, Ulrich Wellmann & British artist
Tom Benson. This is the first time these artists have collaborated, and the
first time that any of the three German artists have exhibited in England.
The exhibition will open on Tuesday October 14th from 6 to 9pm & continue
until November 15th 2003.
It will travel to the Fruchthalle, Kaiserslautern, Germany from January to
February 2004.
Stephan Baumkötter¹s work gives rise to the development of a specific way of
looking at a subject which no longer identifies any fixed forms; (shapes,
colors, compositions), but instead provokes and allows an interplay of
visual shifts, deviations, and minimal differences. His colour is a melded
tertiary mix, applied by hand, stroke by stroke. These marks coalesce into a
mottled field, resulting from a working process that uses white spirt to mix
his medium, directly on the canvas. Up close, areas of waxy velvet sheen
intertwine with faint hints of high keyed colour buried in the surface,
creating topographies of chromatic intrigue.
Tom Benson's paintings are shaped by an understanding of the self defining
qualities of materials: the action of colour & the properties of the pigment
- from which he makes his paint, to the nature of the support & its size &
scale in relation to a volume of colour. Rectilinear in format & painted by
hand to uniform finish, the initial impression of the works' conceptual
clarity slowly gives way to an awareness of the exacting care & attention to
detail that has gone into the making of each painting. How these elements
are combined & exist in relation to a space, & the perceptual & sensory
responses of the viewer are a part of the works intricacy.
Andreas Karl Schulze's works are in essence a calibration between a thing
seen & our experience of the character of a place. He uses small pieces of
painted, square coloured canvas, as part of an open-ended process. Attached
directly to a surface (wall, tree, window, etc) in situ, they don't so much
draw attention to themselves as ameliorate the starkness of the act of
looking.
Ulrich Wellmann's tactile paintings negotiate a subtle exchange between two
colours. Large loosely brushed scumbled volumes, made of a single colour,
expand across the surface of his paintings. A second colour applied with a
relatively small brush is then added over & into the first. The marks of the
second colour provide anchor points for the coloured space of the initial
colour & engage it in a dialogue of definitions.
A book, documenting the work of these four artists is currently being
prepared & will be published in early 2004.
Thu - Sat 11AM - 5PM
Gallery N. von Bartha, 136b Lancaster Road, W11 1QU London
Underground Station Ladbroke Grove
Tel. 020 7985 0015
Fax. 020 7985 0016