Martin Creed: Paintings 29 April � 25 June 2011 Opening: 29 April, 4 - 9 pm Gallery 1
On occasion of Gallery Weekend, Johnen Galerie proudly presents the exhibition Paintings by Martin Creed. The works on view, as all other works by the artist who is well-versed in media as diverse as photography, sculpture, film, and music, range between plain and generally understandable structures, and happenstance. The �genius� creator steps back by � at least theoretically � enabling everyone to make the work following his instructions which makes this work deeply democratic and leaves room for play, practice and selection. Some of the small canvases are densely packed with horizontal, intertwining brushstrokes, others show stair-like stacks of different strokes or zig zags of all shades of colors. His palette reaches from primary or non-colors such as red or black on white ground to color compositions of a wide spectrum. It seems as if each stroke was applied to the canvas with a different beat and timbre. The pictures attest often to a joyful lightness but are always objective reflections about art and thus lead the viewer far beyond the field of abstract painting. Martin Creed was born in 1968 in Wakefield, UK. From the age of three he lived in Glasgow, Scotland. Between 1986 and 1990 he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. In 2001 he was awarded the Turner Prize. Martin Creed currently lives and works in London and Alicudi, Italy.
Attila Richard Lukacs: Polaroids 29 April � 25 June 2011 Opening: 29 April, 4 - 9 pm Gallery 2
The exhibition Polaroids by Attila Richard Lukacs displays pictures that for the most part were created in Berlin where the artist lived from 1986 until his move to New York in 1996. His participation at Documenta IX in 1992 certainly marked a highlight of these years. The polaroids show young men with tattoos, shaved heads and sometimes props or attributes that suggest for them to be members of a gay skinhead scene. The poses of the pictured models range from classic portrait postures and the figure repertoire of Goya or Caravaggio to explicit pornographic poses. The polaroids were initially conceived as preparatory studies for paintings. They rank in the tradition of early representatives of homoerotic photography, such as Wilhelm von Gloeden�s work, that mostly referred to the esthetic canon from Greek Classic art to Neo-Classicism. Lukacs plays with violence and danger as part of the erotic game that no later than Johann Joachim Winckelmann�s or Pasolini�s tragic ends have become part of the iconography of homoerotic depictions. Lukacs Polaroids were introduced by his good friend, the Canadian artist Michael Morris as an independent body of work. Attila Richard Lukacs (*1962, Calgary, Canada) studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, the city where he lives and works today.
Attila Richard Lukacs is nominated for the International Photobook Award.
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