12.06. – 17.07.2005
“Security Check – Painting after Romanticism”
Group exhibition curated by
Amélie von Heydebreck & Florian Illies
at Arndt & Partner, Zurich
PRESS RELEASE
The forthcoming exhibition at Arndt & Partner, Zurich, entitled "Security Check Painting after Romanticism" curated by Amélie von Heydebreck and Florian Illies, concentrates on painting as a medium for reflection.
The exhibition deals with the thematics of security and insecurity and its personal and political implications. It presents a selection of works by artists, such as Marcel Dzama, Till Gerhard, Milena Dragicevic, Wawrzyniec Tokarski, Marcin Lukasiewicz, Alex Müller, Bernhard Martin, Tim Trantenroth, Susan Turcot and Thomas Zipp, who question the reliance on safe craftsmanship and content. In articulating different feelings of uncertainty these artists use the medium of painting, even though - or rather because - it has often been considered a medium of assurance. Their works investigate states of unsettlement with regards to the atomic bomb (Thomas Zipp), the new media (Wawrzyniec Tokarski), a new world order (Tim Trantenroth), strong emotions (Marcel Dzama, Milena Dragicevic), conventions of perception (Bernhard Martin, Susan Turcot), political correctness (Till Gerhard), or towards one's own identity (Alex Müller).
The title "Security Check" draws attention to the artists, because it is they, who subject our reality - as well as the recent revival of painting - to a persistent, agonizing and bold examination. Artistic positions of internationally renowned artists, such as Marcel Dzama and Bernhard Martin, are combined with works of young artists from Germany, Poland, and Canada.
The exhibition thematizes a sense of insecurity as a component of today's way of seeing. What kind of images does the beholder long to see, but which the artist explicitly refuses to render? What is the basis of our contemporary aesthetical canon, that seems to be unconsciously yearning for security, and yet at the same time appears to be demanding provocation and dispute? The subtitle "After Romanticism" refers to the current boom of romantic painting, which the exhibition aims to reveal as a deceptive safety.
The artists presented form a young and defiant counterpart to the parallel movement of Neo-Romanticism in European and American painting in the last few years. They passionately employ the traditional medium in order to formulate new questions. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with texts by Florian Illies, Amélie von Heydebreck and the art critic Silke Hohmann. The catalogue, providing an introduction to the oeuvre of each artist, is published under the title "Security Check" by Revolver-Verlag in Frankfurt / M.