11/5/2007
The Slimy Trail of Slug and Snail
MoMA PS1, New York
Dorota Jurczak and Abel Auer
Dorota Jurczak and Abel Auer
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents The Slimy Trail of Slug and Snail, the first exhibition in a New York museum by Hamburg-based artists and collaborators Dorota Jurczak and Abel Auer. Jurczak's fantastical and nightmarish works merge influences from folklore and mythology, with inventions of her own imagination. For this show P.S.1 features the full range of her work: paintings, etchings, and linocuts. Featured paintings by Auer include landscapes influenced by a combination of Central European iconography and the vivid color schemes of the late-1980s and early-1990s skater culture. The exhibition is on view in the Drawing Gallery from May 12 through September 24, 2007.
Jurczak's etchings, often with an aged patina, belie their contemporary origins. Her style recalls artists as diverse as James Ensor and Francisco Goya, yet the narratives are predominantly indebted to Eastern European iconography and its rich tradition of Post-War illustration. In her menacing imaginary world, the cast of characters is comprised of anthropomorphized birds and spiders, along with bizarre human figures. Placed in both traumatic and humorous scenarios, the figures reveal the nuances of life's pleasures and pains.
In Auer's take on landscape painting, a saturated palette brings to life rural and historical settings. These works owe little to traditional modes of representation and ignore the basic laws of perspective. Aspects of contemporary life negotiate the sleepy countryside: bustling highways meander through fantastical forests, and Technicolor houses decorate the mountainside. The overall effect resembles the playful world of children's book illustrations, where botanical and architectural anachronisms co-exist in harmony.
Dorota Jurczak was born in 1978, in Warsaw, Poland and currently lives in Hamburg, Germany. She has been featured in numerous international exhibitions, including the 2006 Seville and Berlin biennials. Jurczak has also presented her work at Tate Modern, London; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich.
Abel Auer was born in Munich, Germany in 1974, and currently lives in Hamburg, Germany. He has participated in exhibitions worldwide, including Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas; Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo; Tiroler Künstlerschaft, Innsbruck, Austria; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Le Consortium, Dijon; Centre Cultural Andratx, Mallorca; Velada Santa Lucía, Venezuela; Kunsthaus Hamburg; and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
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