In the onion cellar. Carbone makes sculpture, painting and performance that transform found materials into precarious physical, emotional and conceptual conundrums. His fragile constructions appear to reveal a tragic humour that, at times, exposes the artist's own weaknesses and deficiencies.
“The onion has many skins. A multitude of skins. Peeled, it renews
itself; chopped, it brings tears; only during peeling does it speak
the truth.” Günter Grass
Neue Alte Brücke is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in
Germany by the English-born artist Dave Carbone. Titled In the Onion
Cellar, this exhibition comprises new sculpture and wall-based works.
Carbone makes sculpture, painting and performance that transform
found materials into precarious physical, emotional and conceptual
conundrums. His fragile and labour-intensive constructions appear to
reveal a tragic humour that, at times, exposes the artist’s own
weaknesses and deficiencies.
This was seen in Carbone’s prosaically titled 2006 performance, Open
Lecture. Here, Carbone delivered a simple artist’s talk on and
around his general practice, which was closely followed by a question
and answer session. Each audience member was given a question that
had been previously prepared by a close friend of the artist. After
the agreement that he would answer each question as honestly as
possible, Carbone gave uncomfortably truthful responses to questions
such as: “Would you sleep with a 12 year old?” and: “Do pain and
humiliation excite you?”
Another recurring theme in Carbone’s practice is the drum, which he
often uses as an underlying metaphor for life; as heartbeat, provider
of rhythm or marker of time. Carbone’s interest in the drum is its
ability to simultaneously hold the acts of creativity, destruction
and resurrection. Skin protects the body to keep it alive and, when
it is removed, the body dies. We create a drum by stretching the
skin. Then by beating the drum, we resurrect an imitation of the
heartbeat to celebrate life and death.
This exhibition borrows its title from a chapter in Günter Grass’s
acclaimed 1959 novel The Tin Drum. It tells the life of Oskar
Matzerath, who writes his autobiography from memory shortly after the
end of the Second World War. At the age of three, he receives a tin
drum for his birthday and, having observed the adult world, decides
to will himself not to grow up. He retains the stature of a child for
the rest of his life and the tin drum is his most treasured possession.
Set in postwar Germany, the Onion Cellar of Grass’s novel is an
exclusive club frequented by businessmen, doctors, lawyers, artists
and government officials. Its pared-down interior has neither bar nor
menu. Instead, its owner, Ferdinand Schmuh, appears with onions,
chopping board and a knife for each guest. On his ceremonial cue,
guests would begin to peel and cut into the onions and shed
involuntary tears. These floods of bottled-up emotions are later
accompanied by confessions, revelations and self-accusations. The
Onion Cellar appeared to function as a satirical device for Grass –
a way of criticising the clammed-up world of postwar Germany, lacking
the words, or conscience, to come to terms with its past.
In the Onion Cellar comprises four new sculptures, each constructed
from secondhand drumkits, bastardised to form totemic structures.
Standing above each group of drums is a water vessel complete with
skeletal pipe work. When the vessels are filled and the valves
opened, each drum begins to softly beat, finding an irregular rhythm
dictated by chance, disorder, weight and flow.
Titled Tier, Drip Drum, Rooted by Time and Cymbals of Communication
the sculptures will be simultaneously played/performed by Carbone on
the opening night. Through the act of filling each vessel and
releasing each valve, Carbone’s presence in the exhibition can be
seen in parallel to that of Ferdinand Schmuh – and in turn the
gallery is equated to an exclusive club – a pseudo-ceremonial
environment that is, at least symbolically, afforded the potential to
produce emotion, even honesty.
Dave Carbone lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. His work has been
included in many UK and international exhibitions. At 7pm on
Wednesday 12th March Dave Carbone will give a lecture on his work at
the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Entry to this event is free.
Opening Night: Friday 29th February 2008, 7pm onwards
Neue Alte Brucke
Schone Aussicht 6 - Frankfurt
Opening hours: Thursday - Saturday, 12 - 6pm