calendario eventi  :: 

X

7/10/2010

Two exhibitions

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead

ANSELM KIEFER
ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art proudly announces a major exhibition of the work of Anselm Kiefer, one of the foremost figures of European post-war painting. The exhibition includes a diverse body of work, offering a selection that spans four decades and ranges from early paintings to monumental installations. Presented over two floors of BALTIC’s galleries, the exhibition is Kiefer’s largest in the UK for many years and has been made possible by ARTIST ROOMS on Tour with the Art Fund.

Following the success of 2009, 21 museums and galleries across the UK in 2010 will be showing 25 ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays from the collection created by the curator and collector, Anthony d’Offay, and acquired by the nation in February 2008. ARTIST ROOMS on Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection held by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

Anselm Kiefer at BALTIC includes painting, sculpture and installation, some of which has been rarely seen before. The starting point for Kiefer’s work is his fascination with myth, history, theology, philosophy and literature. For many years his painting was a vehicle to come to terms with his country’s past, and subsequently became ever concerned with religious traditions and the symbolism of different cultures. Kiefer’s weighty subject matters are reflected in the monumental scale of many of his works, while his keen exploration and visceral layering of materials such as lead, ash, rope and human hair bring an emotional potency.

Among the paintings to be included in the exhibition are three works from the artist’s early Parsifal series (1973), drawn from Richard Wagner’s last opera and its 13th century source, a romance by Wolfram von Eschenbach based upon the legend of the Holy Grail. With Palette 1981, Kiefer revealed the problematic legacy inherited by artists in post-war Germany: the artist’s palette hangs from a single burning thread evoking shame, loss and the apparent impossibility of artistic creation. The expansive Man under a Pyramid 1996, which measures more than five meters long, continues the artist’s interest in meditation and the linking of body and mind.

Also included is Palmsonntag 2006 which comprises a vast sequence of 36 paintings arranged around a full-size palm tree. While avoiding explicit religious statement, the work draws upon the Christian narrative of Palm Sunday to explore death and resurrection, decay, re-creation and rejuvenation; human themes that are central to Kiefer’s practice and that will be identified throughout this presentation.

ANSELM KIEFER BIOGRAPHY
Anselm Kiefer was born 1945 in Donauschingen, Germany, at the close of World War II. He studied art formally under Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy in the early 1970s where history and myth became central themes in his work.

In 1971 Kiefer produced his first large-scale landscape paintings and from 1973 he began to experiment with wooden interiors on a monumental scale. His preoccupation with recent German history is seen throughout his work and his use of recurring motifs, such as an artist’s palette symbolises his emotional journey relating to this period. Kiefer has made increasing use of materials such as sand, straw, wood, dirt and photographs, as well as sewn materials and lead model soldiers. By adding found materials to the painted surface Kiefer invented a compelling third space between painting and sculpture. Recent work has broadened his range yet further: in 2006 he showed a series of paintings based around the little-known work of the modernist Russian poet Velimir Chlebnikov (1885-1922).

Kiefer has had extensive exhibitions internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1987), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1991), The Metropolitan Museum, New York (1998), Royal Academy, London (2001), Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth (2005) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2006).
Anselm Kiefer currently lives and works in Provence, France.

The Art Fund
The Art Fund is a membership charity that helps museums and galleries buy works of art for all to enjoy through awarding grants, campaigning and fundraising. Recent highlights include the £3.3 million campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard, a fundraising initiative that was kick-started with a £300,000 Art Fund grant. The Fund is financed by the generosity of its 80,000 members and supporters who have a passion for art and the institutions that house great collections. For more information contact the Press Office on 020 7225 4888 or visit http://www.artfund.org.

BALTIC is a major international centre for contemporary art situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England. BALTIC presents a constantly changing, distinctive and ambitious programme of exhibitions and events, and is a world leader in the presentation, commissioning and communication of contemporary visual art. BALTIC has welcomed over 3.5 million visitors, since opening to the public in July 2002.

-----------------------------

DIRK BELL. MADE IN GERMANY

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art presents Made in Germany, a new exhibition by one of Germany’s leading young artists Dirk Bell. Opening on Friday 8 October, the exhibition incorporates new commissions and works not yet seen in the UK including sculpture, animation, large-scale installation and the ephemeral, romantic drawings for which he is best known.

The exhibition explores the enduring tussle between love and freedom, along with the universal structures that shape and control societies. Bell’s delicate, romantic drawings and paintings are infused with myth and legend. Sensual, lyrical and almost hallucinogenic, his work is laced with references and associations that question our attempts to make sense of the world, our belief systems and the structures that control our societies.

The exhibition includes the major installation Revelation Night Sun 2010 comprised of 64 fluorescent tubes that produce a pulsating, inescapable light that dominates the larger of two exhibition spaces. The work generates signals, patterns of light or meditations that reveal a variety of symbols and in doing so radiates a dense network of meanings and associations. In the light of the ‘sun’, our attention is drawn to the immensity of the universe, the overwhelming power of nature and of the sublime. In the darkness, we are reminded of what makes us human.

During the weeks of the exhibition Bell’s own car will make a physical, metaphorical and spiritual journey from Gateshead to London, Glasgow and beyond. When in the gallery, the car will become an instrument that can be played by operating its guidance system, or ‘Sat-Nav’. The game inside the car is a journey where the player must make sense of the world and create balance in order to survive. As in all of the works in the exhibition, it encourages us to question our beliefs, our moral psychology and to reflect on a search for balance.

DIRK BELL BIOGRAPHY
Dirk Bell was born in Munich in 1969 and lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibtions include 'PANIKEARTH', BQ, Berlin, 2009 ; '7 x 14', Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden; 'Li’ve is Li’ve', Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, 2010. Forthcoming solo exhibitions include The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow , 2010 and 'Lost', Kunstverein Arnsberg 2011.

BALTIC is a major international centre for contemporary art situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England. BALTIC presents a constantly changing, distinctive and ambitious programme of exhibitions and events, and is a world leader in the presentation, commissioning and communication of contemporary visual art. BALTIC has welcomed over 3.5 million visitors, since opening to the public in July 2002.

For further information on the exhibition, please contact:
Ann Cooper, Media Officer T: 0191 440 4915 E: annc@balticmill.com

Image: Anselm Kiefer

Opening 8 October 2010

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays, South Shore Road, Gateshead
Opening hours: Monday - Sunday 10.00 - 18.00, except Tuesdays 10.30 – 18.00
Admission: FREE

stampa

permanent link