19 March 2009 - 25 April 2009 Jaromír Novotný"Finisterrae"
7 May - 13 June 2009 Stijn Cole "Found Footage"
September - October 2009 Toirac
October - November 2009 Ruben Bellinkx
November - December 2009 Denmark
January - February 2010 Daniel Pitin
„Abstract art is an excuse for making art non-offensive.“ Georges Braque 1 A provocative thought - I don’t know how I should define abstraction so that I could concede that the author is right. But when I recently came across it, I realised the boundaries of abstraction, and that if I do not wish for my paintings to cross those boundaries, then there are questions that I must ask more frequently during my work. No matter how today this interface is blurred and the attempt at a definition is unsubstantiated, these questions are asked both from within and without: from my position as an artist and a viewer. Provided I know myself even a little, I can perhaps say that my primary intuitive effort is to maintain a relationship to reality in the form of traces of representation. This bond to reality assumes an intensity of the images’ impact and is also for me perhaps a guarantee of a sort of certainness, a tie to already-existing meanings. Perhaps the future will show to what extent this certainty is or is not illusory. If, in some paintings, the subject itself already escapes this link to reality, still some of the representation’s original features, mainly spatiality, remain. For me illusive space works as evidence of non-abstraction - as confirmation of the connection between the image and the (portrayed) reality. No matter how very important the physical impact of the painting (colours, surfaces) is for me, it never leads to a fusion of representation and the image’s surface itself. It only concerns a very close approximation. Therefore a minimalist black surface can still be perhaps a window or a display window. It’s about maintaining existence on both sides: „there“ and here. It is in this moment that I do not consider my paintings to be abstract. During this reflection on the movement along boundaries, I came up with the title of the exhibit, Finisterrae. The end of solid ground under our feet, borderline colour, crumbling structures, isolated torsos. The title captures both processes in painting itself as well as the basic emotional content of the subject. Both tend to be interconnected - if the house falls apart, then so does the painting. Cape Finisterre was certainly at one time named in accordance with the then impression that it was the end of the world (earth) and the beginning of something unknown. But I believe that this impression was not accepted without exception. We could never be sure that there was not something farther out there. JN1 Cahiers d´Art, 1935, vol.10, p.24
Born : 1974, Ceský Brod Studies : 1993 – 1999 – Academy of Fine Arts, Prague (School of Drawing – Jitka Svobodová, School of Conceptual Tendencies – Miloš Šejn) 1996 – UCLM, Facultad de Bellas Artes, Cuenca, Spain Solo Exhibitions: 2009 – Finisterrae, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp (BE) 2008 – Observation Point, Jirí Jílek Gallery, Šumperk 2008 – Restricted area, Via Art, Praha 2008 – Emergency Exit, Geukens & De Vil, Knokke (BE) 2008 – Emergency Exit, Dole Gallery, Ostrava 2007 – Welcome!, Felix Jenewein Municipal Gallery, Kutná Hora 2004 – The Place of a House, Via Art, Praha 2003 – Lonely Prototypes, Galerie Caesar,Olomouc /with Jitka Havlícková/ 2003 – Short Series, Gamin, Praha 2002 – 25 x 35 cm, Municipal Museum, Letohrad 2001 – Motives of Home, National Museum - Libechov Castle Selected Group Exhibitions: 2009 – Praguebiennale 4 2008 – Financial crisis … from our stock, Jiri Svestka Gallery, Praha 2008 – 2009 – INtroCITY, Topicuv salon, Praha 2008 – 2009 – Illusion of space, Nitra Gallery (SK) 2008 – Lettrismus, Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice n.L. 2007 – 2008 – Resetting – Alternative ways to objectivity, City Gallery Prague 2007 – New Patience, Mánes, Praha 2006 – Next Station Arcadia, Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice n.L./Castle of Pirna-Zuschendorf (D) 2003 – Konfrontace, Svárov 1996 – Biennale of Young Artists Zvon´96, City Gallery Prague Selected bibliography: – Ondrej Váša, „Svet za otocenými zády“, Kulturní magazín Uni No.1/2009 – Miroslav Koval, „Cestou od malby domu k domu v malbe“, katalog výstavy Pozorovatelna, Galerie Jirího Jílka, 2008 – Barbora Geržová, Illusion of Space, exhibition catalogue, Nitra Gallery 2008 – Petr Vanous, „Uzavrená oblast“, Ateliér No.22/2008 – Cestmír Lang, Architektura a fragment, A2, No.43/2008 – Martin Mikolášek, Nouzový východ, Ateliér No.18/2008 – Miroslava Hlavácková, Lettrismus – predchudci a následovníci, Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice nad Labem, 2008 – Martin Mikolášek, Nouzový východ, exhibition leaflet, Galerie Dole, Ostrava, 2008 – Petr Vanous, „Resetting: disembodiment and factualisation“, www.geukensdevil.com, 2008 – Petr Vanous, Resetting – Alternative ways to objectivity, exhibition catalogue, City Gallery Prague, 2008 – Petr Vanous, „Resetting. Odhmotnování a zvecnování“, Revue Art 2/2007, p.42-45 – Aleš Rezler, Vítejte!, exhibition catalogue , Felix Jenewein Municipal Gallery, Kutná Hora, 2007 – Petr Vanous, „Pokoje“, A2, No.42/2006 – Miroslava Hlavácková, Príští stanice Arkádia, exhibition catalogue, Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice nad Labem, 2006 – Petr Vanous, „Z odstupu a z výšky“, Ateliér No.24/2004 – Jan Kríž, „Osamelé prototypy“, Ateliér No.24/2003 – Jan Kríž, „Osamelé prototypy“, 2003, exhibition leaflet – Jan Kríž, „Domácí motivy“, Ateliér No.10/2001 – Bienalle of Young Artists Zvon´96, exhibition catalogue, City Gallery Prague, 1996, text by: Miroslav Petrícek
Curator: Jan Van Woensel Assistant Curator: Vanessa Albury
March 6 – April 11, 2009 Opening reception: Thursday March 5, 2009, 6 to 9 pm
The Chelsea Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation, is pleased to present the group exhibition UN-SCR-1325, which brings together the works of eight Belgian artists with the works of eight American artists. Referencing the United Nations Social Security Resolution 1325, the exhibition focuses on the position of women in global and local sociopolitical contexts. The artworks in the show critically address topics such as religion, sex, identity, trauma and war.
UN-SCR-1325 is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. The exhibition acknowledges the great importance and value of this resolution. Instead of being illustrations of a political declaration, the artworks examine critical moments of social and psychological defect and disruption. Contrary to portraying women as victims, the artists of the exhibition present works that expose the counter effects of negligence, discrimination and intolerance towards women. Present and past occasions explored in this exhibition include the California Gold Rush, 9/11, the Iraq War, racial issues, domestic violence and sexism in the religious sector. As a running thread through the exhibition, the artists of UN-SCR-1325 prove how throughout history women, in fact, all people have stood up against their oppressors. UN-SCR-1325 is therefore also an exhibition about resistance and hope.
Many of the artworks presented in the exhibition, find their inspiration in concrete time and space. From the staged repetition of a random action in the work of Joëlle Tuerlinckx, the notions of space and isolation in the work of Sofie Muller to the relational complexity between "you" and "me" in Vanessa Albury's work and the handcrafted survival kit of collaborators Kathleen Hanna and Becca Albee; these works reveal how the artists reflect upon the here and now. The exhibition confronts the viewer with physicality, femininity, transgression and action. "If women suffer the impact of conflict disproportionately, they are also the key to the solution of conflict", said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002. The exhibition UN-SCR-1325 demonstrates how change always finds its origin in a situation of conflict. Through this exhibition we are invited to consciously think about how change can be suggested, accepted and successfully integrated in our transient societies. [JVW]
The exhibition UN-SCR-1325 is funded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium and appreciates the support of the Belgian Permanent Mission at the UN, the Consulate General of Belgium in New York, The Armory Show, Capitalatwork, Yasmine Geukens and Marie-Paule De Vil, and Office Jan Van Woensel.
Support the cause SOS, stop sexual terror in East-Congo http://www.sosoostcongo.be/node/12
www.unscr1325.blogspot.comwww.geukensdevil.com
The Chelsea Art Museum 556 West 22nd Street (at 11th Avenue) www.chelseaartmuseum.org New York, NY 10011 Tue-Sat 11-6, Thurs 11-8 For further Information, please contact: Nicollette Ramirez 212.255.0719 x108
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Participants include:
-Yasmine Geukens and Marie-Paule De Vil (organizers of UN-SCR-1325 in Belgium) -Jan Van Woensel (curator of UN-SCR-1325 in New York) -Vanessa Albury (artist and assistant curator of UN-SCR-1325 in New York) -Cindy Wright (artist) -Karin Hanssen (artist) -Sofie Muller (artist) -Marlene McCarty (artist) -Jen DeNike (artist)
Saturday, March 7th
1PM: Start panel discussion 1:10 - 2:40PM: Presentations 2:40 - 3PM: Q&A --------------------------------------- Jan Van Woensel --------------------------------------- California College of the Arts Dept. of Curatorial Practice 1111 Eighth Street San Francisco, CA 94107 --------------------------------------- New York Magazine of Contemporary Art and Theory http://www.ny-magazine.org/ --------------------------------------- http://icpabackstage.blogspot.com --------------------------------------- http://b-a-d-m-o-o-n-r-i-s-i-n-g.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------http://unscr1325.blogspot.com/
The Dark Visions of Marcin Cienski
Polish-born, Berlin-based painter Marcin Cienski views artists as ‘Demiurgs’ – figures who create alternate worlds without reason or justification. Accordingly, his paintings play on the tension between the audience’s desire to know versus the artist’s inclination for his paintings to be. The artist resists offering personal explanations about his work. Instead, each painting functions as a clue; each is part of a bigger story to be completed by the viewer. He says; “The urge to paint is an intimate thing and its medium is paint not literature. A painting should be looked at and not explained by the painter. It shouldn’t mean but be. It can be discussed by others but this is a whole different story.”
British writer Neal Brown described viewing Cienski’s paintings as ‘…like coming across a Hitchcock film half-way through, at the freaky bit, without having any idea of the plot.’ Indeed, the artist’s oeuvre functions as a series of unresolved, sometimes sinister fragments. Witness Fake 2007. Executed in an insipid palette of butter yellow and peach, a bedridden woman lies in a state of distress. With tendons stretched and contorted, her hands strain towards her neck. Her helplessness is made all the more disturbing by the unexplained nature of the work. These ideas of physical and psychological entrapment, of figures in possession, are recurrent themes.
A recent trip to Antwerp inspired Cienski’s current series, Bad Air; a study of the Great Plague focusing particularly on the Stoicism of victims in the face of this invisible danger. This idea of invisibility - of a threat or feeling just out of grasp - is central to Cienski’s practice. Hovering on the margins of consciousness, his paintings offer inchoate suggestions of memory – both collective and personal. Ambiguity is paramount. Cienksi believes that ‘…an artist is a medium linking the viewers with the immaterial and hidden meanings and worlds. Both the audience and the artist function on some level of subconsciousness – and neither the creation nor the perception are fully controlled and conscious.’
Like film stills, Cienski’s paintings hint at narrative, enacted in scenes that are often ordinary and familiar. Take his church interiors, executed in a seductive, jewel-like palette and enlivened by his virtuoso handling of light and shade. It is in the midst of these lush environments that strange things happen; a ball of flames bursts at the altar (Show 2007), a statuette of the Madonna weeps blood (Head 3 2007). In Head 2007, the Virgin Mary’s benevolent, wearied gaze borders on freakish. With a waxy, underlit visage, one expects to see tears welling in the sculpture’s eyes. Raised in a Catholic family, Cienski’s paintings often question faith. Interested equally in authentic, devotional experience and the relatively modern phenomenon of sometimes kitschy faux miracles, the artist’s work does not pass judgment, instead offering a series of postulations.
Cienski’s work is fuelled by a desire to grasp the immaterial. Each painting he creates is a puzzle; ‘…Just one piece of a jigsaw puzzle. But this should be the crucial piece, the most important one. If this puzzle is well painted, a spectator can complete the whole thing with other elements they have in their minds. It is like a piece of crystal – if you have one piece you can assume that the rest looks alike. It is all in it. The whole puzzle game is there, in a single puzzle. That would be an ideal at least.’
Serena Bentley
1. Marcin Cienski, email correspondence with the author, 20 November 2008. 2. Marcin Cienski, email correspondence with the author, 11 October 2008. 3. Neal Brown, ‘Iconic Religious Art,’ The First Post – online daily magazine, http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/13573,arts,iconic-religious-art 4. Marcin Cienski, email correspondence with the author, 11 October 2008. 5. Artist’s statement, Galleri s.e., http://www.galleri-se.no/artist/marcin_cienski/
In my view a painting should be perceived on a visual level and it does not need to be supported with too many words.To do so seems to me like an attempt of paraphrasing a poem. It shouldn’t mean, but be. A painting covers issues that are described better by paint than by words. As much as I am not keen on talking about the meaning or the reasons behind my work, I would like to make some points a bit clearer.
In a sort of almost “romantic” manner I strongly rely on my subconsciousness. I pay attention to memories, obsessive images and topics that keep coming back to my head ever since my childhood.These images are standing in line in my mind and must find a visual form in my painting. Themewise I am deeply interested in subjects that one can sense but not necessarily understand. That leads me to subjects we quite often tend to fear or supress – mysticism and paranormal aspects of life, the presence or the lack of it.The way human brain operates between reality and subconsciousness and its ability to switch from rational to illogical fascinates me. One of the main links, or gates to that transpositioned reality is religion and a need for the sacred. In my recent paintings I have been examining phenomena connected to religion, such as the prophecies, visionaries, apparitions, fake and real miracles.
These issues interest me on three different levels: personal, sociological and visual:
Personal level I was brought up and raised in Poland in a religious Catholic family which is an important context for me. There is a lot of trauma concering my Catholicism and my childhood. The sense of duty, and mission, the notions of punishment and guilt, realm of heavens but also of hell just around the corner all intermingle in my head. With my paintings I am not taking a stand or taking sides concerning all those apects of religion. I am examining it and asking questions and bringing out the visual part of it. Naturally I am also asking myself about my own attitude towards faith.
Visual level I think I am so drawn by these images because they are visually very attractive and disturbing at the same time. Aesthetically modern sanctuaries where apparitions are claimed to happen are very commercialized but yet there is something ambiguous one can sense underneath the tacky surface. I am also especially interested in the the aims of grasping the immaterial by making it in solid wood or stone.
Products of sacral art are often times very simple or bad taste even. It is fascinating that despite the naivety of form of those objects they can still be subjects to miracles. The statues cry the tears of blood, emit smells, sweat with fragrant oils or even talk. The movies, photos and all the visual traces of those occurrences are also very interesting: blurr and grained, sometimes with an awkward hue of colour. The viewers can not be certain what they actually see and what is being added by their imagination.The quality I like most in paintings is ambiguity.
Sociological level Even these days there are many places where miracles are reported to be happening. Some are approved by the Catholic Church officials, some are just mere magic tricks gaining fame for the local „visionaries” and some are considered to be missleading and evil. The way the miracles happen or are said to happen raises many questions in me. Why the form of their manifestation is often so bizarre, naive? What is the use of doing scientific tests of those manifestations? What is the perception of such miracles of people in modern times? Do we still need proofs for the matters based on faith?
Brain Another area of my interset partially connected to the issues of religious ecstasy and visions is the condition of a human brain in state of trans or mental illness. In the past I happened to know and be close to people suffering from mental disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease or dying of stroke. At an early age I got familiar with hospitals, death and dying and I may say I saw people being imprisoned or literally killed by their brains and bodies. I realized how incredibly powerful this organ is and how helpless we are when it takes over our will and body. That influenced many of my paintings in which one may notice a sense of possesion and inner fight and that is why some of the figures are in horizontal position either defeated or still fighting with something that is trying to take control. I like to think that in my paintings I give a viewer a piece of puzzle by reffering to their individual memories and experiences. By observing and giving their own interpretation the viewer takes part in, and completes the creative process. The interpretation is never meant to be forced. That is why the visual sources I use are not as important as the actual paintings that they lead to. These may be stills from movies (also some cheesy ones), my own photos, collages I made on my PC that I use as means to achieve a certain effect, tell a specific story with. I have a stack of images, an archive of visual starting points that I have been gathering along the way. And in the end I am quite convinced that no matter how fascinating the story behind the painting may be it is the quality of each work that counts, not my personal context.
Marcin Cienski
29 January - 14 March 2009 Marcin Cienski "Bad Air"
GEUKENS & DE VIL - Contemporary Art Gallery - Antwerp / Knokke-Zoute - Belgium
2000 Master of Arts – Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland Solo Exhibitions 2008 Testing, FRED [London] Ltd, England 2007 Paintings 2006 – 2007, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany 2005 Malerei, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany 2003 Nova Gallery, Krakow, Poland 2002 Galerie Pokusa, Wiesbaden, Germany Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Awards 2008 Nomination for the Sovereign European Art Prize nominator – Rebecca Wilson SWAB- Galerie Binz & Krämer, Spain 2007 Salon Nouveau, Engholm Engelhorn Galerie, Wien, Austria Brave New World, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany ZOO Artfair, Fred London, London, UK 2006 Kämpfen und Lieben – Rostocker Satelliten, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany Artefiera Bologna, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Italy Finalist - Saatchi Your Gallery and Guardian competition /nomination by Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, co-director of the Gagosian gallery/ , England Art Amsterdam, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Holland Berliner Liste, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany Scope London, Galerie Binz & Krämer, London, England 2005 Eurostars, Group show, Galleri S.E, Bergen, Norway Art Frankfurt, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany Berliner Liste, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany Süd><Ost Malerei, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany 2004 Paperworks – Works on paper, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Köln, Germany 2003 Finalists show Obraz Roku (Painting of the Year) exhibition, Warsaw, Poland International Print Triennal, Krakow, Poland International Print Triennal, Oldenburg, Moscow Germany, Austria, Russia 2002 Finalists show Obraz Roku (Painting of the Year) exhibition, Warsaw, Poland 2001 Polish Art. & Craft Gallery, Monaco Galeria Mlodych Gazety Antykwarycznej, Krakow, Poland Special mention „Bielska Jesien“ contest, Bielsko-Biala, Poland 2000 Galerie Pokusa, Wiesbaden, Germany Goethe Institut Frankfurt/Main, Germany Palac Sztuki, Krakow, Poland
Contemporary Art Gallery - Antwerp / Knokke-Zoute - Belgium - current exhibition: Philippe De Gobert - GEUKENS & DE VIL - Contemporary Art Gallery - Antwerp/Knokke - Belgium - Pourbusstraat 19 - 2000 Antwerpen Belgium ARTISTS: Carl Andre - Ruben Bellinkx - Keith Brumberg - Stijn Cole - Denmark - Philippe De Gobert - José Manuel Fors - Andrian Ghenie - Herbert Hanak - Renaat Ivens - Marie-Jo Lafontaine - Peter Lindbergh - Sofie Muller - Daniel Pitin - Bie Peeters - Hans Roels - Serban Savu - Toirac - GEUKENS & DE VIL - Contemporary Art Gallery - Zeedijk 735 - B-8300 Knokke-Zoute, Belgium, 2008, Geukens DeVil Art Gallery - Berlinde DE BRUYCKERE - Ann Veronica JANSSENS - Karin HANSSEN - Kati HECK - Marie-Jo LAFONTAINE - Sofie MULLER - Joëlle TUERLINCKX - Cindy WRIGHT
UN-SCR-1325We are proud to announce that the exhibition Un-SCR-1325 will be on show at the Chelsea Art Museum, 556W 22nd street, NY.Opening 5. March 2009. From 4 - 31 March 2009 the exhibition will be part of the official VIP-Prorgam of the Armory Show. webdesign Seppe Slabbinck 2009
Christmas Holidays 2008 - 2009 groupshow with works of Carl Andre, Marcin Cienski, Stijn Cole, Denmark, Renaat Ivens, Peter Lindbergh, Sofie Muller, Jaromir Novotny, Serban Savu
Easter Holidays 2009 New works of Renaat Ivens
Autumn 2009 Denmark: Old & new works
19 March 2009 - 25 April 2009 Jaromír Novotný
7 May - 13 June 2009 Stijn Cole
UN-SCR-1325We are proud to announce that the exhibition Un-SCR-1325 will be on show at the Chelsea Art Museum, 556W 22nd street, NY.Opening 5. March 2009. From 4 - 31 March 2009 the exhibition will be part of the official VIP-Prorgam of the Armory Show.
With this exhibition Yasmine Geukens & Marie-Paule De Vil aim to draw attention to international women's issues in a positive and symbolic way, throug art. They invited 8 leading female Belgian artists. Some of them established artists who gained national and international recognition during the last 25 years; some of them younger artists who recently, slowly but surely, have made international headway. All of them accepted to create a work for wich they drew inspiration from the resolution or wich refers to the position of women in general.
The unanimous adoption of UN-SCR-1325 in 2000 was a break-trough in the evolution of international women issues, peace and security issues. It was the first formal and legal document from the UN Security Councel that requires parties in a conflict to respect women's rights and to support their participation in peace negociations and in post-conflict reconstruction.
UN-SCR-1325 was the first Resolution specifically addressing the disproportionate and unique impact of war on women and women's sustainable peace. It urges women's equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security. In October 2006 Belgium was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Councel for 2007-2008. During this period various organisations have argued that Belgium should focus more attention on the resolution at an international level.
GEUKENS & DEVIL Contemporary Arthttp://www.geukensdevil.com
