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8/1/2014

Gregor Hildebrandt

Galerie Perrotin, New York

For my first New York solo show with Emmanuel Perrotin, I will block the path and view into the gallery by placing my work “Schallmauer” [Sonic Wall] (2012) in such a way that visitors have to walk around it to gain access to the gallery. The work consists of vinyl record bowls, which I bought in this form on a Berlin flea market and then piled up in an alternating rhythm into pillars. Placed in a row close next to each other, they form an entire wall. Once one enters the space, the view reveals four pictures hung face to face, each on one wall (including on the “sonic wall made of pillars of records”), resulting in a cross.

The three pictures that are not on the sonic wall are each framed by a wall cover made of video tapes vertically glued directly next to each other— similar to my “video curtains”, so that the entire space is black from floor to ceiling. On the videotapes is a recording of the film “Der Himmel über Berlin” [Wings of Desire] by Wim Wenders. The picture opposite the entrance (here now opposite the ‘record pillar wall’) will be the negative in the ‘ripping-off process’ *, developed by me, the other three are the positives. The tapes used for these pictures have a recording of the song “What if...” (Theo Teardo & Blixa Bargeld). In the downstairs space, I will show, like in a crypt, the ‘Kassettenboden’, consisting of music cassettes without the tapes inside. On one of the end walls, the work “Die Geschichte läuft über uns” will be shown, a mosaic of many of the little pieces of felt over which the tap e in a cassette runs. * In the ripping-off process, the coated side of cassette tapes is put on double-sided adhesive tape, the coat is pressed onto it with a painterly gesture with a brush or a roller, and then the cassette tapes are taken off again. This process can be repeated several times on different canvases, resulting in ever more delicate structures. Finally, the tapes are glued onto a canvas for good. They form the negative. Gregor Hildebrandt

Galerie Perrotin, New York is proud to present “Die Geschichte läuft über uns”, the first exhibition by Gregor Hildebrandt at the gallery.

The Berlin-based artist Gregor Hildebrandt makes installations, sculptures, and works on canvas. His materials are, amongst oth er things, record carriers for sound and film, such as cassette tapes, videotapes, and vinyl records. His formal vocabulary is grounded in minimalism, but his works are charged with numerous associations. Even though there is no sound in his exhibitions, Gregor Hildebrandt’s installations, objects, and pictures exude an intensity that goes beyond their mere physical components. They are stores of pop-cultural memories that contribute to identity formation. The unreeled tapes reveal an unexpected sensual quality. The brown or gray coating becomes a form of painting. The artist even uses the small rectangular pieces of felt over which the cassette tapes run. He explores the materials in all sorts of ways and thus reaches n ew forms that follow their own laws. For example, vinyl records shaped into bowls are stacked and become sculptures. The videotapes put together to form a large floo r-to-ceiling wall hanging are indirectly also a projection screen: every tape bears a recording of Wim Wender’s great 1987 Berlin film “Der Himmel über Berlin“ [Wings of Desire]. The story of an angel who wants to participate in earthly life is set in city that was still divided at the time. It articulated eternal themes like immortality, sadness, yearning, and transience into a contemporary visual language that to this day remains characteristic for Berlin.

Embedded in this simultaneously delicate and monumental curtain is a series of four paintings that share the same origin: the n egative form, from which the other three pictures are taken in a rip-off process, on the wall opposite the entrance, consists of cassette tapes with a recording of a song by the Berlin industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. The song “The Garden” evokes, in a darkly minimalist emotionality th at is typical for the band, a paradise with four stations. Like the songs and films that so fascinate Hildebrandt, his art also tells simultaneou sly of tenderness and coldness, romance and harshness. The floor installation on the lower floor has exactly the dimensions of the Berlin herringbone parquet in Hildebrandt’s apartment on Rosenthaler Platz in the formerly eastern part of the city. The square on the narrow side consists of about 27,000 cassette felts and measures 79 by 79 cm. On the one hand, these are the measurements of Malevich’s “Black Square”, at the same time 79 stands for the year of birth of his partner, the artist Alicja Kwade. “Die Geschichte läuft über uns” is an ambiguous title. It could be translated as “The Story Runs Across Us” or indeed “History Walks Across Us”. It is these minimal contact points where the deconstruction of the material finds a new beginning.

For additional information on Galerie Perrotin please contact:
Natacha Polaert - Nouvelle Garde - natacha@nouvellegarde.com
Héloïse Le Carvennec - Galerie Perrotin - heloise@perrotin.com

Galerie Perrotin
909 Madison Avenue & 73rd Street
Upper East Side, New York, NY 10021
Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm

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