calendario eventi  :: 

X

3/6/2004

Two solo exibitions

Galerie Barbara Thumm (old location), Berlin

Mariele Neudecker: Much Was Decided Before You Were Born
(e.) Twin Gabriel: Die Tote Familie

We are pleased to present the two simultaneous solo exhibitions of Mariele Neudecker and (e.) Twin Gabriel.

Mariele Neudecker's profound works blend the theoretical foundations of perception with an unconventional reception of art history - submitting those historic works or epochs to an idiosyncratic interpretation that were themselves dedicated to the phenomenon of perception by describing meteorological, psychological and atmospheric conditions. Neudecker's approach is particularly apparent in her so-called 'tank-works': three-dimensional landscapes en miniature, often based on Romantic paintings, sunk in containers filled with liquid. This medium is veiling and yet at the same time unveiling: a cloudy or tinted solution that extrapolates the pictorial illusion of the original work while diffusing it in saltwater and dye.

Her most recent work, 'There Go I', is based on one of the many versions of Arnold Böcklin's painting 'Die Toteninsel'. The eerie atmosphere of the scenery has been preserved, but while the painting retains a mystery, Mariele Neudecker willingly exposes her ingredients. She resolves the morbid into the sombre backdrop of the looming rocks and the deep black hue of the water lapping the island. Even the work's title can be read as a Memento mori. In her three-part installation 'Over and Over, Again and Again' Mariele Neudecker takes the decomposition and dissection of perception beyond her former solutions: three tanks are placed in the exhibition space as individual works, but from one single point of view these three miniature-landscapes actually reveal the impression of one sole image. Here the artist employs – with the sophistication of a Mannerist visual effect – the sculptural models as well as the spatial void between the works to recreate the impact of an illusionist painting. 'Over and Over, Again and Again' transposes a viewing pyramid into the co-ordinates of the gallery space, and it is only in the eye of the beholder that the pyramid's planes shape into one complete picture.

(e.) Twin Gabriel and Mariele Neudecker both share the insight that an artwork is created in the mind of the beholder only. The artificial, performance elements and careful production therefore play a major role in the works of (e.) Twin Gabriel, but where others offer perfection, they prefer precise improvisation, spiced up with visual stimuli. The pre-history, predecessors and preparations to their works remain obscure, however. This is also the principle behind their four-part photographic series 'Dead Family'. It is left up to the viewer's imagination to conjure them up ...

'Playing dead is a common method among animals to hide from the attention of the predator. Human collective suicide is an outrageous provocation. Mass suicides, like recently among members of the 'Order of the Sun Temple' or the 'Heaven's Gate Cult' produce a dubious fascination. With serial discipline into doom. This holds even more for the death of the Goebbels family in the bunker of the Berlin Reichskanzlei on May 1st 1945. The horror is intensified by the dastardliness of the 'evil woman' and 'mother' who kills her own children with poison. The defiant terror of the self- sacrifice creates a kind of disgusting beauty which is hard to elude. Against this background, the dead RAF-terrorists in the West-German state of the 70s appear like ghosts, like the 'long arm' of the Goebbels children.
The image of a dead person and the treatment of such image cause strong and ambivalent emotions, which is consciously exploited by the mass media. The controversy about which pictures to show or not sparks off in particular regarding the representation of the dead – with the result that they will be published anyway. It is difficult to resist their attraction and to not look at them, although everyone knows that this will lead to some degree of dismay – to a shudder that seems so wrong to the honest soul. Looking at the dead, even in a dignified way, always involves something filthy, trivial and lecherous, something to be instinctively ashamed of.' (Else Gabriel)
(Text: Astrid Mania)

Image: Mariele Neudecker, Much Was Decided Before You Were Born

Private View: Friday June 4, 2004, 7 - 9 pm

We thank the British Council for their kind support. For further information please contact the gallery at tel: +49-30-283 903 47 or via e-mail

Galerie Barbara Thumm
Dircksenstr. 41
D-10178 Berlin

stampa

permanent link