Margret Uhrmeister - Wagner + Partner
The exhibition 'Mythos incorporated' subtly questions the state of collective pictorial memory today while pursuing the icons of tomorrow. Against the backdrop of an ever-increasing flood of imagery, pictures that once held iconographic significance have come to lose their function. Mythos incorporated associatively leads one through a series of paintings whose realistic manner of representation oscillates between Surrealist and recent neofigurative painting traditions.
Galerie Wagner + Partner is delighted to announce the
second solo exhibition by Eckart Hahn (born 1971 in
Freiburg) in Berlin. The exhibition MYTHOS
incorporated subtly questions the state of collective
pictorial memory today while pursuing the icons of
tomorrow.
Against the backdrop of an ever-increasing flood of
imagery, pictures that once held iconographic
significance have come to lose their function. In the
tradition of passing on such pictures, they have also
been known to impart values. Moreover, in parallel to a
diffusion of these values, such images, myths, or
symbols imbued with values have been borrowed to
further marketing aims.
Eckart Hahn has now adapted such images of mythic
or symbolic force inscribed within pictorial memory,
such as for instance a portrait of the Sun King Ludwig
XIV, the Adoration of the Magi by Rubens, or the
depiction of the Matterhorn. By consciously bringing
attention to these images by means of painterly
copying, and by furnishing them with devices of
alienation such as bags or pools of paint, the artist is
querying their iconographic potential for the present day. In the process of painterly reconstruction,
Hahn likewise exposes the timeless validity of these universally negotiated images.
MYTHOS incorporated associatively leads one through a series of paintings whose details,
chromaticity, and ambience touch the viewer in a calculated way, and whose realistic manner of
representation oscillates between Surrealist and recent neofigurative painting traditions.
Within collector circles, Eckart Hahn’s paintings and installative objects have incited a furore on an
international scale. In 2010, he impressively showed his comprehensive solo exhibition Grat at the
Kunstverein Reutlingen. In 2011, the Kunstpalais in Erlangen is presenting the exhibition Der
schwarze Duft der Schönheit (The Black Fragrance of Beauty) from September 15 to November 13.
Image: Eckart Hahn, XIV, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 110 cm.
Opening reception: Friday, April 15, 2011, 7 to 10 p.m.
The artist will be present.
Wagner+Partner
Karl-Marx-Allee 87, Berlin