Annelise Coste
dal 25/1/2007 al 15/3/2007
Segnalato da
25/1/2007
Annelise Coste
Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart
Qui suis-je. On show for the first time a group of small canvasses which she refers to as self portraits. The paintings are displayed with a group of over 100 A4 drawings from the past couple of years. In these paintings mask-like faces formed by colourful, thickly applied paint layers stand out on a white background.
Qui suis-je
Galerie Reinhard Hauff is pleased to announce the opening of the third
solo show with Anne-Lise Coste (*1973). In her art, as well as in life,
the French-born Zurich artist takes a radical approach in which she
articulates - in spontaneous drawn or painted gestures - the randomly
said, written - thought. Contrary to the mainstream standardisation of
art, she focuses on the fleeting nature of the instant - on the risks
and opportunities inherent in every new beginning - and expresses
herself with uncompromising honesty. The blend of picture and text, of
drawing and commentary, of personal observations and political
engagement have been characteristic of her work for years. In that
process, portraiture takes increasing prominence - either as charcoal
drawings on paper (a catalogue of the series “18 Heads" was recently
published by the Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany) - or as compositions in
acrylic paint on canvas.
In this exhibition, Anne-Lise Coste shows for the first time a group
of small canvasses which she refers to as self portraits. The paintings
are displayed with a group of over 100 A4 drawings from the past couple
of years. In these paintings mask-like faces formed by colourful,
thickly applied paint layers stand out on a white background. The
rudimentary facial features - nose, eyes and mouth - in these portraits
are reminiscent, not so much of deformity, as of a playful “research of
the Self" as Anne-Lise Coste explains. The existentialist question “qui
suis-je" (who am I) in both the exhibition title and this very first
series of paintings, reflect the artist’s probing search for identity.
In this playful disguise she encounters the viewer. Just as Anne-Lise
Coste in her prolific body of drawings always drew on her own
experience, her own feelings and the conditions of her own Self -
without limiting significance myopically to that of her own - the “Who
am I" of these paintings can also be understood as the “erosion of that
which we life-long thought ourselves to be". (Andreas van Duhren, in
the catalogue “Anne-Lise Coste: 18 Heads", Kunsthalle Lingen, 2006).
Opening: 26 January 2007, 7 - 10pm
Galerie Reinhard Hauff
Paulinenstr. 47 - Stuttgart
Free admission