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Gregory Cumin
dal 14/5/2012 al 18/5/2012

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Valerie Favre


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Gregory Cumin



 
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14/5/2012

Gregory Cumin

UferHallen Berlin-Wedding, Berlin

Inside Out. Cumins presents a group of works here which he calls Still, created by applying acrylic to wood and then being covered with Indian ink.


comunicato stampa

The Invention of the Subject
Even when it does not instantly reveal its figurative elements, it is rather in the nature of painting to contain an illusionistic moment which provokes the viewer to reflect upon the means of enticement in order to counter the deception somewhat. Not wishing to be deterred, the viewer tries to gain access to the painting in a way that will either put paid to the superficial appearance or at least legitimize its power by wresting an insight from it.

The question of subject, material, technique never reveals the whole truth, yet one makes do, for the moment. Gregory Cumins presents a group of works here which he calls Still, created by applying acrylic to wood and then being covered with Indian ink. But what was originally applied here and what was subsequently covered? Cumins uses photographs as a pretext that originally showed Iraqi children in scenes captured by the American military suggesting peace, or at least confidence in a normality which is actually out of the question, and of which the paintings make no mention.

The meticulous transposition of the original – onto detailed, patterned fields of colour – might serve as a demonstrative visualization of the object, were it not for this second process of obfuscation, which diverts attention from the tempting presence to the problematic mode of trying to recognize anything at all; something that would otherwise be a sign of skilfulness is undermined by the question of how we even dare create an image of a person.

Each and every mystification of the real shifts the emphasis to the conception itself, yet this artist is certainly not engaging in wanton mystification of that which, in apparently being conveyed directly, would be the plain truth. If this were the case, the lie being spoken from the manipulative original photo would remain, whereas it is in fact the pretence which forces the viewer to make an effort, to engage in a cautious adaptation – which indeed urges the viewer to do so, in the sense that it renders one comparable with and equal to the person whom one is looking at, an individual whose movements are frozen in time.

In this methodical exaggeration of the phenomenal, the figure removed from reality demands from us the respectful permeation of a darkness composed of a fictional context as much as of convenient reception, of the world of news reports as much as of precipitous agreement; it demands immersion in colour, which thus becomes a medium of enlightenment.
Text by Andreas van Dühren

The french painter Gregory Cumins (born 1973 in Boulogne Billancourt, France) lives and works in Berlin. He helds a diploma in sculpture with Richard Deacon of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Cumins has taken part in various international exhibitions. His recent solo shows include: Les Abattoirs, Avallon, Frankreich (2009); „Facebook“, Galerie Bertin- Toublanc, Miami, USA (2008), „Entre Autres“ Galerie Bertin- Toublanc, Paris Frankreich. Recent group shows:”SERIOUS GAMES- War-Media-Art” Curated by Antje Ehmann & Harun Farocki, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Deutschland (2011); “À distance / Behind the Back of Richard Deacon”, Galerie Bernard Jordan, Paris, France (2008); „BP Portrait Award 2006“, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2006).

Press: artpress – Ute Weingarten l Elisabethkirchstraße 15 l 10115 Berlin
+49 (0)30 2196 1843 l artpress@uteweingarten.de l www.artpress-uteweingarten.de

Opening: Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 6 pm

UferHallen
Uferstraße 8-11, 13357 Berlin
opening hours: 11 am-7 pm
Admission free

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Gregory Cumin
dal 14/5/2012 al 18/5/2012

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