Art in the City
They say as one door closes another opens. This week I braved the cold to go to the closing of “Kryptonite”, Martin Feistauer’s solo exhibition at the Ponyhof Gallerie and the opening of “TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ (LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA)”, a goup exhibition with work by Thomas Janitzky, Inga Kerber, Jochen Plogsties, Anna Sartorius at Kunstverein Leipzig.
"Kryptonite", Martin Feistauer, Ponyhof Gallerie............photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
Martin Feistauer, who usually works on a large scale, had installed nearly 200 small screen-sized paintings in Ponyhof Gallerie. He wanted to work with the “space” itself and was inspired by the tile floor to create a grid that framed and connected the works. Each of the works, painted on “found” materials, was of the same dimension and alternated between horizontal and vertical orientation. Surrounding the grid were thousands of red dots, like stars. I loved the energy of the work as an installation and of each piece itself. For me the installation was an explosion of all things wonderful: pop art, abstract expressionism and sci-fi. What a combination!
An experience in itself, this edgy underground gallery, just off that road that starts with a Z and sounds like “chocolate”, is DEFINATELY one to keep an eye on.
Thomas Janitzky....photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
While I generally like seeing exhibitions alone so I can better engage with the works, I was excited to be able to make the opening of “TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ, TOURNÉ (LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA)” because there was a performance piece by Thomas Janitzky. The connecting thread of the exhibition is repetition. Janitzky has been collecting and transformer”ing” the first album Lou Reed released after leaving the Velvet Undergound. The album was mass produced, but each one he buys online is now a unique entity with its marred cover, missing-or not- dust cover and the degree of dust and play induced scratches in the vinyl. He takes these albums and screen prints his own transformation to the process, adding an “ed” to the title. For his performance piece he played a song that everyone knows and is still being repeatedly played on classic rock platforms, “Walk on the Wild Side”, but with a difference. He took this track from the past and manually sped up the chorus to bring it into the future. I had heard this song a million times, but it was the first time I had really listened to the verses and not just parroted the chorus and bass line. He is currently working on a 7” single where this will be the A side and the B side will be Madonna’s 4 Minutes which he has manipulated to last 4 minutes and 33 seconds, a reference to John Cage’s work, thus taking the now and slowing it down to take it back to the past. Hopefully it will be released by the next leg of the tour….or maybe even while the exhibition is still on at the Kunstverein Leipzig.
Inga Kerber......photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
As we move more and more towards a digital world, there are few actual photos. They are all stored on our computers, phones and in cyber space. Inga Kerber works with an archive of slr photos she’s been taking since she was 13. Of course the photos have some sort of special meaning to her, but she purposely chooses stereotypical images. Then she scans them and prints the scans in series. At first glance all the images of the final product seem the same. If you take the time to look closer, you realize that each one is different. This harkens the work of Gertrude Stein in which she freed words from their commonality by repeating them over and over again. This variance in repetition of the same image also shows how we can all look at the same thing at the same time from individual viewpoints and personal histories, thus making it a totally unique experience for each of us.
Look for more about Inga Kerber in the upcoming March issue of LZ.
Jochen Plogsties..............photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
You may recognize the name, Jochen Plogsties. I’ve written about him in LZ and he is currently on exhibition at the Bilder Museum after having won Leipziger Volkszeitung art prize. When I interviewed him in his studio in the summer of 2010 I was fascinated by a hot pink plastic American Tourister suitcase strategically sitting in the middle of the floor. I couldn’t help but ask what was inside. He opened it to reveal a treasure trove of collected images of various types. He often draws from this collection to update them from his perspective. The thing I like most about his work is you can feel the contact of the paint to the canvas when you look at it. The layers of paint feel like layers of time with past moments peering out from behind the present. He connects time, making the passing of it irrelevant, which keeps the past just as fresh as the present.
Anna Sartorius......photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
Anna Sartorius has created an entire book discussing repetition. It researches how it plays a role in every aspect of our lives. She comments on it from a philosophical level all the way down to a basic aesthetic level. As an extension of her extensive work, she has a slide show on display, the through thread of which is flowers. How many of us have cut flowers in our home? At first glance all the flowers in a bouquet of like flowers appear to be the same. Closer inspection reveals infinite differences. On a larger scale, how we arrange them and where we choose to place them causes them to take on completely new appearances.
The show is only on until 4 March. For the closing Marc Ries will be performing.