Each for Onself and God Against All
01 Dec 2006 - 03 Mar 2007
"EACH FOR ONSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL"
Group show
Since not so recent times the debate on painting, its actuality, pertinence and competitiveness against other forms of plastic expressions, has been maintained in the center of the critical discourse. However, painting, that antique, or rather the oldest form of artistic expressions, is still in the present, obsessing its parishioners, those artists that visit it -like the jealous mistress that she is– from time to time or with obsessive frequency. Painting keeps making an appearance, to the delight of mortals, in shows and museums, biennales, triennials and fairs, in studies and galleries. It continues to fascinate with that special magic that the hand made possesses, the direct contact with the artist –for many, that character who is privileged, gifted– with the object that is the product of his work.
There is a special moment in the creation of a painting: the encounter of the artist with the canvas, or the white paper, in the solitude of his study, that instant in which the artist confronts his demons and dreams and plunges himself to fill up that hole. It must be, we think, a moment of sheer concentration, of loneliness, of individuality, of searching of meaning and soul scratching. It is the moment in which you take hold of feelings and of the gut, of the imagination, of intelligence and the hand, or the whole body, to try to reproduce an object that makes sense to itself and to the world.
Some artist produce small and intimate woks, others plunge themselves in the conquering of large spaces, some with humor and irony, others with fury and pessimism or joy. Some prefer the quick and spontaneous stroke, others the obsessive dedication and the minute detail. But it is in these intimate study works where the artist really shows what he is made of and to where his soul is looking.
In this exhibition we have not proposed to present all forms of actual pictorial expression, it would be a colossal job to do, it would surpass by much the capacity of the gallery, its undoable. We neither can, nor want, to touch the theme of public painting or murals. It is a show of what is traditionally called “Easel work”: that stale and romantic form of naming small to medium formats, to the intimate work produced in the solitude of the study.
The selected artists present to us a variety of themes, techniques and expressions. But, they are not all that there is nor are they here all that they are. It is a group selected on a whim and with the basis of the pleasure and passion that this antique manifestation, which continually renews itself and surprises us, gives us.
We thank the collaboration of all the participating artists who dedicated their time to discuss the project and to select the work. We also thank the representing galleries of some of the international artists who enthusiastically plunged with us into this adventure: Galleri Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Arndt&Partner, Berlin, Conner Contemporary Art, Washington D.C. and upstairs Berlin.
The show will be open to the public until the third of March of the present year.
© Johan Nobell
Mr. Never Strong, 2005
Oil on linen
61 x 76 cm.
Group show
Since not so recent times the debate on painting, its actuality, pertinence and competitiveness against other forms of plastic expressions, has been maintained in the center of the critical discourse. However, painting, that antique, or rather the oldest form of artistic expressions, is still in the present, obsessing its parishioners, those artists that visit it -like the jealous mistress that she is– from time to time or with obsessive frequency. Painting keeps making an appearance, to the delight of mortals, in shows and museums, biennales, triennials and fairs, in studies and galleries. It continues to fascinate with that special magic that the hand made possesses, the direct contact with the artist –for many, that character who is privileged, gifted– with the object that is the product of his work.
There is a special moment in the creation of a painting: the encounter of the artist with the canvas, or the white paper, in the solitude of his study, that instant in which the artist confronts his demons and dreams and plunges himself to fill up that hole. It must be, we think, a moment of sheer concentration, of loneliness, of individuality, of searching of meaning and soul scratching. It is the moment in which you take hold of feelings and of the gut, of the imagination, of intelligence and the hand, or the whole body, to try to reproduce an object that makes sense to itself and to the world.
Some artist produce small and intimate woks, others plunge themselves in the conquering of large spaces, some with humor and irony, others with fury and pessimism or joy. Some prefer the quick and spontaneous stroke, others the obsessive dedication and the minute detail. But it is in these intimate study works where the artist really shows what he is made of and to where his soul is looking.
In this exhibition we have not proposed to present all forms of actual pictorial expression, it would be a colossal job to do, it would surpass by much the capacity of the gallery, its undoable. We neither can, nor want, to touch the theme of public painting or murals. It is a show of what is traditionally called “Easel work”: that stale and romantic form of naming small to medium formats, to the intimate work produced in the solitude of the study.
The selected artists present to us a variety of themes, techniques and expressions. But, they are not all that there is nor are they here all that they are. It is a group selected on a whim and with the basis of the pleasure and passion that this antique manifestation, which continually renews itself and surprises us, gives us.
We thank the collaboration of all the participating artists who dedicated their time to discuss the project and to select the work. We also thank the representing galleries of some of the international artists who enthusiastically plunged with us into this adventure: Galleri Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Arndt&Partner, Berlin, Conner Contemporary Art, Washington D.C. and upstairs Berlin.
The show will be open to the public until the third of March of the present year.
© Johan Nobell
Mr. Never Strong, 2005
Oil on linen
61 x 76 cm.