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1/5/2008

Carroll Dunham

c/o Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin

We are very proud to announce the seventh solo exhibition of the American artist Carroll Dunham at c/o – Atle Gerhardsen during the Gallery Weekend Berlin 2008. The exhibition includes nine new paintings reflecting on the motif of trees. These works present a change in the work of the artist, departing from his anthropomorphic characters and heading to a nature inspired motif.

Over the past three decades Carroll Dunham has developed a distinguished stylistic language, since the turn of the century this features a cartoon like, phallus-nosed figure wearing a formal suit and hat. Carroll Dunham developed these typical characters in the 1990s, based on drawings and paintings of organic forms. Since the 1980s Dunham had been exploring a method of surrealistic automatism, tracing the structure of a wooden surface in order to subliminally trigger certain forms. In fact, the subconscious has always played a major role in Carroll Dunham's work.

In the past years Carroll Dunham had involved the tree motif in his drawings and monotypes, exploring these media in order to enable the realisation on canvas and to replace, or rather to transform, the characters that had inhabited his artwork thus far.

In landscape painting, especially in 19th century English, the play of light and shadow as well as the various shades of green in the foliage presented a great challenge. Carroll Dunham's trees are angular variations of tree forms, the outer edges organically merging with the surface area, opening up to the outside realm. By working with the biomorphic tree forms, the artist investigates different states in the life of a tree: the vibrant green of a radiantly healthy tree; a withered tree, reclining in dull shades of brown, surrounded by shriveled and drooping trees. In the distance on the horizon, the hills are populated by a few solitary trees.
This year's exhibition at c/o - Atle Gerhardsen comes full circle: the wooden material, originally a source of inspiration in the 1980s, becomes more than a print medium – it is also employed as a motif in the work.

The artist Carroll Dunham was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1949, and now lives and works in New York City and Connecticut. Numerous international solo exhibitions were dedicated to his work: in 2002 a retrospective in the New Museum, New York was a tribute to his work, and in 2004 he received the Skowhegan Medal for Distinction in Painting.

From 19 February to 19 April his early works on wood dating back to 1982-87 are on display in the Skarstedt Gallery in New York, and a retrospective of the print graphic work of Carroll Dunham will open in May 2008 in the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover (10 May – 13 July 2008). Coming summer the Ophiuchus Collection will be showing their collection of the artist's work on the island Hydra (18-21 July 2008). Furthermore in the autumn of this year, Carroll Dunham will open the retrospective show “Paintings and Sculpture 2004-2008” at the Millesgården Museum in the vicinity of Stockholm.

Opening: May 2, 2008, 6-9 pm

Atle Gerhardsen
S-Bahnbogen, 46 - Berlin
Free admission

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