wiedemann/mettler
21 Jan - 03 Mar 2012
WIEDEMANN/METTLER
Velvet Value
21 January – 3 March 2012
We are delighted to show the first exhibition of the artist couple wiedemann/mettler in our gallery.
Since 2002 Pascale Wiedemann (*1966) and Daniel Mettler (*1965) work together consequently towards an oeuvre, that is in its complexity and diversity out of common. Already the title of the exhibition velvet value hints to a specific attribute of their work: On the one hand the title refers to values, on the other it alludes through the adjective "velvet" to tactile senses. In their works wiedemann/mettler unify in a poetical way sensuality and rationality.
The artist duo shapes in their exhibitions compositions by assembling the most diverse media and material.
The single works are in a subtle way positioned to each other. Through the interaction of the works wiedemann/mettler create in the gallery space a model of the world: a matrix of cross-references and relations captivating the viewer. The installations of the artist couple hold an all-embracing quality, which includes social and political questions.
The first room of the gallery can be read as the overture to the exhibition. The visitors are welcomed by the photograph Le Lignon/Genève, showing a detail of the housing development from the 1960s in the Canton of Geneva. On the short wall stands try and error, a white starting block with a blue jump surface, allowing metaphorically the jump into the diversity of the exhibition. In front of the windows hangs velvet value, two curtains on rails generating the impression to enter a common living room. velvet value features two different sides: Towards the street it shows golden surviving foil, towards the exhibition room dark blue velvet cloth, which can be interpreted as an expanse of water and therefore introduces an illusory space.
In the second room wiedemann/mettler unfold all options of their forms of expression. The light blue Hamabeads-image hopeful deep evokes a landscape. Through its colour but not through its materiality the image connects with velvet value. Next to the image hopeful deep hangs the photograph Carlton/Tokyo, followed on the small wall by a second Hama-beads-image sparkling elegy. The interplay between artificial Hamabeads-images and realistic photographs finds its logical continuation on the opposite wall through the photographs Park Hyatt/Tokyo and Hermitage/Monte Carlo and the Hama-beads-image bright silence. The prominent front wall occupies the photograph Tiffany/New York, showing the closed Art Deco front door of Tiffany's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in NYC. Next to it a Japanese mask adorned with wool pompons called babble brabble seems to mock the American confidence. In the middle of the room stand two sculptural configurations: cosmic squint, a cubus, combining two different materials, silvery calf leather and unit furniture, and multiple choice, a mirrored structure reflecting the exhibition space.
In the office room in the back two wool pompons on leashes called yinging and yanging and three photographs showing views from different cities residential unit/Berlin, less is more/Barcelona and simplicity and repose/Tokyo complete in a form of epilogue the show.
wiedemann/mettler show in their exhibition different ways of capturing the world. They unfold their personal view of the interaction of images in a globalised community. Thereby revealing deep hollows and peeks of perception, inviting the viewers to sharpen their attention and question their velvet values
Velvet Value
21 January – 3 March 2012
We are delighted to show the first exhibition of the artist couple wiedemann/mettler in our gallery.
Since 2002 Pascale Wiedemann (*1966) and Daniel Mettler (*1965) work together consequently towards an oeuvre, that is in its complexity and diversity out of common. Already the title of the exhibition velvet value hints to a specific attribute of their work: On the one hand the title refers to values, on the other it alludes through the adjective "velvet" to tactile senses. In their works wiedemann/mettler unify in a poetical way sensuality and rationality.
The artist duo shapes in their exhibitions compositions by assembling the most diverse media and material.
The single works are in a subtle way positioned to each other. Through the interaction of the works wiedemann/mettler create in the gallery space a model of the world: a matrix of cross-references and relations captivating the viewer. The installations of the artist couple hold an all-embracing quality, which includes social and political questions.
The first room of the gallery can be read as the overture to the exhibition. The visitors are welcomed by the photograph Le Lignon/Genève, showing a detail of the housing development from the 1960s in the Canton of Geneva. On the short wall stands try and error, a white starting block with a blue jump surface, allowing metaphorically the jump into the diversity of the exhibition. In front of the windows hangs velvet value, two curtains on rails generating the impression to enter a common living room. velvet value features two different sides: Towards the street it shows golden surviving foil, towards the exhibition room dark blue velvet cloth, which can be interpreted as an expanse of water and therefore introduces an illusory space.
In the second room wiedemann/mettler unfold all options of their forms of expression. The light blue Hamabeads-image hopeful deep evokes a landscape. Through its colour but not through its materiality the image connects with velvet value. Next to the image hopeful deep hangs the photograph Carlton/Tokyo, followed on the small wall by a second Hama-beads-image sparkling elegy. The interplay between artificial Hamabeads-images and realistic photographs finds its logical continuation on the opposite wall through the photographs Park Hyatt/Tokyo and Hermitage/Monte Carlo and the Hama-beads-image bright silence. The prominent front wall occupies the photograph Tiffany/New York, showing the closed Art Deco front door of Tiffany's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in NYC. Next to it a Japanese mask adorned with wool pompons called babble brabble seems to mock the American confidence. In the middle of the room stand two sculptural configurations: cosmic squint, a cubus, combining two different materials, silvery calf leather and unit furniture, and multiple choice, a mirrored structure reflecting the exhibition space.
In the office room in the back two wool pompons on leashes called yinging and yanging and three photographs showing views from different cities residential unit/Berlin, less is more/Barcelona and simplicity and repose/Tokyo complete in a form of epilogue the show.
wiedemann/mettler show in their exhibition different ways of capturing the world. They unfold their personal view of the interaction of images in a globalised community. Thereby revealing deep hollows and peeks of perception, inviting the viewers to sharpen their attention and question their velvet values