Kendell Geers
dal 3/6/2013 al 5/7/2013
Segnalato da
3/6/2013
Kendell Geers
Galerist - Tepebasi, Istanbul
The exhibition titled 'Stealing Fire From Heaven' includes most recent paintings along with works on paper and examples of historical sculptures. Created specifically for this city, the show is the artist's personal spiritual call to arms, a political-erotical-mystical meditation in paint.
“Nothing is worse than what we can imagine”
“Where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of dependent people,
I decided, I was opposed to civilization.”
(J. M. COETZEE, Waiting for the Barbarians)
Galerist is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Kendell Geers in Istanbul from June 4 to
July 6th, 2013. The exhibition titled ‘Stealing Fire From Heaven’ will include most recent paintings of
the South African-born, Belgium-based artist along with works on paper and examples of historical
sculptures. Created specifically for this city, the exhibition is the artist’s personal spiritual call to arms,
a political-erotical-mystical meditation in paint upon Bruce Nauman’s declaration that “The True Artist
Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths.”
Influenced by the first clause of Sol Lewitt’s manifesto, “Conceptual artists are mystics rather than
rationalists. They leap to conclusion that logic cannot reach,” Geers uses a Sol LeWitt wall drawing
as a starting point for this series of paintings and drawings composed of outlines of Razormesh fence
on canvas. The works transform the violence of a world divided by boarders and marked by fear into
the symbolic world of spirit. The violence of cold steel gives way to a totemic emblem, charged with
consciousness that holds creation and destruction, order and chaos, in a fragile contradictory
balance. The paintings and drawings are portals through which spirit has been materialised and
matter spiritualised.
The Razormesh or Razorwire fence, originally developed and patented in Apartheid South Africa
has, since the artist’s childhood years, developed into an international presence, a silent sentinel
marking every border and limits of the socio-political space. From the Eurostar platform at Gare du
Nord in Paris to the gated communities of wealthy suburban mansions, from international political
flashpoints and borders to airports, schools, prisons and hospitals, from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo
Bay, the razorwire fence has become an archetypal symbol of the present global condition.
“I have always been drawn to the thriving spiritual traditions of Istanbul, the spiritual layers of ancient
archaeologies. From the secret messages of coffee grinds to the overlap of tarot cards, from the
abstract shapes of lead cast into water to the Bible and Koran, the socially binding force of
superstitions and folklore, from Gobekli Tepe to Hagia Sophia, the world of spirit, faith, mysticism
and alchemy are all living traditions in the city once called Constantinople.
Demanding more of myself and more from art than cynicism, parody and pastiche, I decided to take
a leap of faith and steal fire from heaven. I resolved to interrogate my own practice in search of that
mystical element that for Lewitt was the first condition of conceptual art.”
Kendell Geers
Kendell Geers (b. Johannesburg, South Africa, 1968 1968) lives and works in Brussels. In 2013 a
retrospective of the artists work, “Kendell Geers, 1988-2012” was held in Haus der Kunst, Munich.
‘Irrespektiv' a major exhibition of the artist has toured Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di
Trento e Rovereto (MART) in Turin (2009), Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, France (2008) Da2
Salamanca, Spain (2008); (S.M.A.K.) Gent, Belgium (2007); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art,
Newcastle, UK (2007).
Recent group shows include The Progress of Love, The Menil Collection, Texas, USA (2013), The
Lumnous Interval, The Daskalopoulos Collection, The Guggenheim Bilboa, Spain(2012), Bern
Biennale, The Museum of Fine Art in Bern, Switzerland (2010), The 29th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil
(2010), New Monuments, Middelheimmuseum, Antwerp, Belgium (2010), Contemplating the Void,
Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010), Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, The
FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA (2008); African Pavilion, 52nd Biennale di Venezia, Venice,
Italy (2007) and Global Cities, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London (2007).
For further information please kindly get in touch with Galerist press office;
Sanem Bay / t. 0212 232 49 02 / sanem@kirazhalklailiskiler.com.tr
Opening: June 4, 2013 / 19:00 – 21:00
Tepebaşı
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No: 67/1, 34430 Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
TUESDAY – SATURDAY: 11:00 – 19:00
MONDAY: Appointments only