Antje Majewski
dal 14/1/2003 al 22/2/2003
Segnalato da
14/1/2003
Antje Majewski
asprey jacques, London
Crystal Palace and the Dinosaurs. For her show at aspreyjacques, Majewski will present two large format works on canvas that form an ambiguous narrative. As is often the case with the artist's work, the precise link between the paintings is left incomplete. Each painting contains an element that unbalances its apparent ordinariness and it is this uncertainty which leaves the viewer to 'complete' the story.
Crystal Palace and the Dinosaurs
'Antje Majewski uses photography both as a starting point and a reference point, but also, in a sense, as a sketch that produces a visible approximation of an imagined painting'. Peter Pakesch, 'Antje Majewski', solo show, Kunsthalle Basel, 2001.
aspreyjacques is pleased to present Antje Majewski's second solo show in London. Born (1968) in South Africa, the artist now lives and works in Berlin.
For her show at aspreyjacques, Majewski will present two large format works on canvas that form an ambiguous narrative. As is often the case with the artist's work, the precise link between the paintings is left incomplete. Each painting contains an element that unbalances its apparent ordinariness and it is this uncertainty which leaves the viewer to 'complete' the story.
In her painting Entrance to the Crystal Palace (240 x 380 cms), two girls are seen standing in front of one of a pair of giant Sphinx statues, the sole remnants of the legendary Crystal Palace originally built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. The palace was then moved to Sydenham Hill where Majewski saw two girls visiting this now tourist attraction. Several hours later and in a completely different part of London, Majewski spotted the same two girls eating in a greasy spoon cafe. As seen in the second painting, Dinosaurs (190 x 200 cms), the girls are seated in front of kitsch wallpaper depicting dinosaurs. Coincidentally, the park in which Crystal Palace was originally sited included the first life size statues of extinct animals such as dinosaurs.
The message from Majewski's two new paintings is ambiguous - the Victorian love affair with classical iconography is as dead as the proverbial dinosaurs in the cafe. But what of the two girls? Who do they represent and how remarkable is Majewski's chance second encounter with them on the same day? The threads of a commonplace story, a small narrative or perhaps something more epic and of consequence...
Antje Majewski's recent solo exhibitions include L'invitation au voyage at the Kunsthalle Basel (2001). She was an artist in residence at Delfina Studios in London 2000/2001.
Teenage Pantomime, (published by aspreyjacques) an artists book by Antje Majewski and her sister Ulrike, is available through Art Data, email: liana@artdata.co.uk.
private view: 15 January, 6 - 8
next exhibitions: Candice Breitz, 28 February - 5 March
Jeff Ono / Ian Kiaer, March/April
John Chilver, May/June
art fairs: The Armory Show, New York, 7 - 10 March
For further information and images please contact Alison Abrams on 0207 287 7675
gallery hours: tuesday - friday, 10 - 6, and saturday, 10 - 1
asprey jacques gallery
4 Clifford Street
London