news archive

2023-9-21

new studio. new noises. õ

Hello hello turn your radio on. Is there anybody out there? Tell me what went wrong
La la la life is a strange thing. Just when you think, you know how to use it, its´s gone

The Bates - Hello

2023 5 30

We are all of us so capable of the greatest acts of hate and the worst acts of love. I wonder sometimes what's the matter with us all.
And I know how the best will fall. And the rest will follow.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Rest Will Follow

2022 10 07

I'm painting, I'm painting again - I′m cleaning, I′m cleaning again - I'm cleaning, I′m cleaning my brain [Talking Heads "Artists Only"]

2022 - 02 - 02

// on top of the trauma heap //

<Echoes roars dinosaurs -They're all doing the monster mash. And most of the taxis, most of the whores - Are only taking calls for cash.> [Dire Straits: Your Latest Trick]

[detail] RE-SAD . 2021 . 180x125cm . oil, acryl on canvas

2020-12-28

[while making conceptual art highly economical]

I´m not an artist.

I´m a hustler. As a hustler I´ve done many things. You should really believe it when I tell you that, ´cause I´m not being sarcastic.

I´m a total hustler.

What that means is I´ve hustled to make a buck and I´ve hustled to change the world and I´ve hustled take revenge - but it´s always hustling.

(Vincent Gallo)

[detail] . Hospitalism II . in progress . 180x125 . oil on random fabric

//2020-09-30//

keep resetting the eternal reset just yet

reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset reset . perpetual regret machine. too bad.

Looking for even more exclusive and highly significant insights?

Be one out of 50 who deem to know the crucial truth. (-> info)

There are only a very few left,

order via email only. (-> click)

shipping for free.

02-14-2020

As history confirms, people will change their minds about almost anything, from which god they worship to how they style their hair. But when it comes to existential judgments, human beings in general have an unfalteringly good opinion of themselves and their condition in this world and are steadfastly confident they are not a collection of self-conscious nothings. (Thomas Ligotti - The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror)

2019_06_15

late:latent:latest

[detail] Everything That´s Left and Everything That Isn´t Right (Psychosis 2) . 2019 . 200x140 . oil on canvas

“It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.” (Charles Bukowski, Pulp)

2019_07_22

movement

You know that problem is me - Forget your psychology - What is the problem with me? - I'm an asshole.

(Nomeansno, I´m an asshole)

2019_02_09

soon

My anger subsides, I'd like to pee.

(Samuel Beckett, Endgame)

2018-05-17

ATTENTION! BREAKING NEWS:

business as usual

It's just like a grape in a bottle. It's wine today but piss tomorrow. I don't know, I guess that we're all through.

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Amputation

2018-02-01

XXX:

[detail] Hibernation Battlefield III - What if we need one second of sleep . 2018 . [2x] 110x160 . oil on canvas

***********************************************************************************************************************************

‘In our country,’ she remarked, ‘there’s only one day at a time.’

‘That’s a poor thin way of doing things. Now here, we mostly have days and nights two or three at a time,

and sometimes in the winter we take as many as five nights together—for warmth, you know.’

‘Are five nights warmer than one night, then?’

‘Five times as warm, of course.’

‘But they should be five times as cold, by the same rule—’

‘Just so!’

‘Five times as warm, and five times as cold—just as I’m five times as rich as you are, and five times as clever!’

‘It’s exactly like a riddle with no answer!’

(Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There)

2017-12-24

SAME PROCEDURE AS EVERY YEAR:

New idea, new idea, a phrase recorded backwards

The Chemical Brothers - Lost in the K-Hole

2017-11-07

IN THE MEANTIME

You can find me in the frozen mood section.

Henry Rollins - Solipsist

[detail] And a Hush for my Hustle-Hussy . 2017 . 85x63 . oil on canvas

2017-10-08

RECENTLY:

I hit my head up against the wall. Over and over and over and over again

And again and again. I left my heart in Amsterdam

Nothing But Thieves - Amsterdam

CURRENT:

forgotten to talk

lydia balke, paul czerlitzki, judith kisner, fabian herkenhoener

W139 - warmoesstraat 139 - 1012 jb amsterdam

opening: 25.08.2017 | exhibition: 26.08.2017 - 01.10.2017 | open daily 12-18

www.w139.nl

2017-06-27

Yes Yes - now cut and run!

It made life a little easier

To have Holland on the run

It didn't take that long to forget her

My old man and his gun.

John Cale - Ghost Story

2017-05-23

IN THE COURSE OF TIME your coldness becomes awesome.

Georges Perec - A Man Asleep

[detail] Hibernation Battlefield 2 . 2017 . 230x160 . oil on canvas

2017-04-21

☭

All I want is a life without parties.

(Jawbreaker: I Love You So Much It´s Killing Us Both)

[detail] Hibernation Battlefield 1 . 2017 . 230x160cm . oil on canvas

2017-03-30

☭

That's why you want to get rid of me... Because you can't stand that I remind you of what it was you came here to find.

(Dogville)

2017-01-07

STILL | CURRENT | STEADY:

2016-12-23

... AS FROM NOW...

in stupidity and agony - monster paintings and dark circles

And so - o - o - o well prepared

2016-11-22

CURRENT:

Inside the fox´s burrow. In the basement. Silence.

2016-11-07

My life flashed before my eyes, it was a horror to behold
A life-sentence sweeping confetti from the floor of a concrete hole.

[Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds: I Let Love In]

2016-10-27

Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality

And it's not here
It disappeared

I'm all lost

The Clash | Lost In The Supermarket

мудак | 2016 | oil and acryl on gypsum and porcelain

2016-10-05

CURRENT | UPCOMING:

Concreting is painting for idiots:

Again, but different:

GUT VOM VERHALTEN HER

7TÜREN | Neustädter Str. 48 | 20355 Hamburg

opening: 7.10.2016

exhibition: 08. - 26.10.2016

www.7tueren.de

2016-09-30

[recently]

We don´t make mistakes. Just happy little accidents. (Bob Ross)

2016-06-03

CURRENT:

I´m not an artist. I´m a hustler. As a hustler I´ve done many things. You should really believe it when I tell you that, ´cause I´m not being sarcastic.

I´m a total hustler. What that means is I´ve hustled to make a buck and I´ve hustled to change the world and I´ve hustled take revenge - but it´s always hustling.

(Vincent Gallo)

2016-04-24

UPCOMING:

Lydia Balke und Laura Link

GUT VOM VERHALTEN HER

opening: friday, 13.05.2016, 7pm

exhibition: 14.-22.05.16 | 5-8pm and by appointment

Künstlerhaus Sootbörn | Sootbörn 22 | 22453 Hamburg

This isn´t the Kunstmeile or the MoMA.

It´s not fancy around here.

Here is no force to leash.

Here is the province.

Provincial is the new urban.

That is no event.

There is neither a performance nor a happening.

There is no need for a white cube.

It is concrete.

Concreting is the new referring.

We aren´t hip.

We aren´t topsellers.

We aren´t decorating.

We are serious.

Dogmatical is the new placeable.

This is good in behaviour.

This is painting.

Hier ist nicht die Kunstmeile und auch nicht das MoMA.

Hier ist es nicht schick.

Hier herrscht kein Leinenzwang.

Hier ist die Provinz.

Provinziell ist das neue Urban.

Es ist kein Event.

Es gibt weder Performance noch Happening.

Es braucht keinen White Cube.

Es ist Beton.

Betonieren ist das neue Referenzieren.

Wir sind nicht hip.

Wir sind nicht die Topseller.

Wir machen keine Deko.

Wir meinen es ernst.

Dogmatisch ist das neue Vermittelbar.

Das ist gut vom Verhalten her.

Das ist Malerei.

exhibition and catalogue are kindly supported by

2016 - 04 - 21

RECENTLY:

going to the seaside: CHECK

group tour for Mrs. J.L. Dahmer, The Cold War and Santa Claus

to Nordart (4.6.-9.10.)

BYE BYE...

2016-03-29

CURRENT:

Lydia Balke and Laura Link are painting concrete.

Further information coming soon.

There are huge grey reasons to be curious about.

2016-03-11

CURRENT:

yet another exclusive preview for 2016:

tax declaration done.

ass-like gravity.

[detail] And the ass saw the asshole . 2016 . 160x110 . oil on canvas

2016-02-09

CURRENT:

latest destination: world-famous potato-painter

(detail) Die Hackfresse des Spektakels . 2016 . 200x150 . oil on canvas

2016-01-28

2015-11-11

UPCOMING IN 2016:

[T.B.A.]

LYDIA BALKE and LAURA LINK

Künstlerhaus Sootbörn

14.05.16 - 22.05.16

opening: 13.05.16

2015-09-23

MALEREI, BÖSE

LYDIA BALKE, BIRGIT BRENNER, MARTIN EDER, BERNHARD MARTIN, DAWN MELLOR

Kunstverein Hamburg

17.10.15 - 10.01.16

opening: 16.10.15

MALEREI, BÖSE

Kaum eine andere Gattung ist mit so vielen Klischees, Widersprüchen und Vorurteilen behaftet wie die Malerei. Ihr Ende wird jährlich proklamiert, ihre neue Energie alle drei Jahre gefeiert und in mitten all dieser Diskussionen erzielt sie, als sei nichts gewesen, regelmäßig Rekordumsätze auf den internationalen Auktionen und Messen. Die Malerei scheint zu einem Anachronismus geworden zu sein und unserer schnelllebigen und akkumulierenden Zeit diametral gegenüber zu stehen, aktualisiert sie sich doch in langen Zeiträumen, in Feedbackschleifen und in Dialogen mit der Geschichte.

Der Kunstverein in Hamburg stößt mit der Ausstellung Malerei, böse eine inhaltliche Auseinandersetzung über das subversive Potenzial von Malerei an. Im Fokus stehen Arbeiten, die mit den vielfältigen Einschreibungen des Mediums operieren, um Geschmacks- und Wertvorstellungen herauszufordern. Die gezeigten Werke arbeiten dabei mit und gegen die Klischees der Malerei. Sie neigen zu Übertreibungen und Überfrachtungen, zum Kitsch, zu Ironie und zu Gewalt – oft erscheinen sie erst verlockend, um auf den zweiten Blick Abgründe zu offenbaren. Sei es im Großformat oder kaum größer als ein Blatt Papier, spielerisch oder ernst; eines ist ihnen allen gemein: Sie sprechen eine deutliche Sprache, die den Betrachter vor den Kopf stoßen kann.

Diese Ausstellung unternimmt den Versuch, einen Kontrapunkt zu den in letzter Zeit dominanten Überblicksausstellungen zu setzen, die mehr um die Malerei als solche kreisten. Im Vordergrund standen oft Fragen danach, was das Medium ist oder noch sein kann, anstatt seine konkreten Inhalte zu untersuchen. Die theoretischen Diskurse und Ausstellungen der jüngeren Vergangenheit erwecken den Eindruck, als sei der Umgang mit dem Medium von großer Unsicherheit geprägt. Die Repräsentation der zeitgenössischen Malerei scheint – zumindest im institutionellen Ausstellungskontext – in einer Krise zu stecken.

Basierend auf der Tatsache, dass es sich bei Malerei um jene Gattung mit der vermeintlich niedrigsten Zugangsschwelle handelt, birgt sie jedoch ein besonderes Potenzial für Subversion. Anders als beispielsweise der Installation wird ihr nicht per se Komplikation unterstellt. Ein Bild lässt sich schnell erfassen, erfordert kaum Bewegung im Raum und entspricht unseren Sehgewohnheiten, so dass die gelieferte Information schnell verarbeitet werden kann. Aus dieser Vertrautheit entwickelt sich Vertrauen. Das Vertrauen darauf, von Malerei nicht angegriffen, überrascht oder vor den Kopf gestoßen zu werden.

Dieses Vertrauen bietet beste Voraussetzungen für die ausgestellten KünstlerInnen, Spannungen zu erzeugen. Die gezeigten Arbeiten verdienen sich insofern das Adjektiv "böse", da sie uns mit ihren Inhalten überrumpeln. Das im Vorfeld entgegengebrachte Vertrauen der Betrachter wird konsequent unterlaufen. Aber das Böse selbst hat keine eigene Qualität, sondern tritt als Kategorie der Wertzuschreibung immer dann zutage, wenn wir keine Möglichkeit mehr haben, die Perspektive unseres Gegenübers einzunehmen. Die Frage ist aber, ob diese Ablehnung unweigerlich mit dem Einnehmen einer kategorisch moralischen Instanz gerechtfertigt werden kann. Zwingt uns das Gefühl, mit der größtmöglichen Abweichung von dem, was wir als „gut“ empfinden, konfrontiert zu sein, nicht auch selbst zum Handeln; unser Denken und unsere Vorstellungen zu hinterfragen? In diesem Moment des Zögerns und Unbehagens wird die Kraft der Gemälde deutlich. Die in der AusstellungMalerei, böse gezeigten Positionen zwingen uns, geläufige Moral- und Wertvorstellungen zu hinterfragen. Sie legen herrschende Festschreibungen und Normen als Abbild kultureller Überzeugungen offen, die interpretierbar und vor allen Dingen debattierbar sind.

PAINTING, EVIL

There is hardly any other art genre as heavily confronted with contradictions, prejudices and clichés as painting. Year after year, its end is proclaimed, while every three years its new energy is celebrated, and in the midst of all discussions, paintings achieve record-breaking prices at international art fairs and auctions, as if nothing ever happened. It seems like painting has become an anachronism of itself. In our fast moving and accumulative world, painting positions itself diametrically, for its process of updating requires long periods of time, dialogues with history, and feedback loops.

With the exhibition Malerei, böse (Painting, evil), the Kunstverein in Hamburg initiates a critical debate on painting’s subversive potential. The exhibition focuses on artworks using the medium’s manifold inscriptions to challenge aesthetical and moral concepts, using exaggeration, overload, kitsch, irony and violence, as well as a playful treatment of preconceptions. At first appearance these paintings may seem enticing, but on second sight they reveal an abyss. Some in large scale, others hardly bigger than a sheet of paper, either playful or serious, they all have one thing in common: they speak a distinct language which may offend the beholder.

This exhibition seeks to contrast the recent tendency of survey exhibitions circling around painting itself. Questions about what the medium is or still can be are dominant, instead of analyzing its actual contents. Lately, the theoretical discourse and exhibitions have created the impression as if there are deep insecurities in coping with the medium. The representation of contemporary painting seems to be stuck in a crisis – at least in context of institutional exhibitions.

There lies a special potential for subversion in painting as the most accessible art genre. As opposed to an installation, for example, a painting is not assumed to be complicated, per se. A picture is easily ascertainable for the human eye, as it does not require much movement in space and corresponds with our optical perception. Therefore the information supplied can be processed promptly. Based on this familiarity, we develop faith. We trust in not being attacked, startled or offended by painting.

And precisely that confidence provides ideal circumstances for the exhibited artist to create tension. The prematurely and inconsiderately developed faith of the spectator is consequently broken, undermined and frustrated. Thus, the artworks in the exhibition earn the adjective “evil” by ambushing us with their content. But evil has no quality in itself. It appears as a categorical attribution when we have absolutely no chance to sympathize with our vis-à-vis. However, the question is whether this objection is necessarily justified by a categorical moral instance. Aren’t we obliged to question our thinking, our acting and our ideas when confronted with the maximum divergence from everything we consider as “good”? In this moment of hesitation, the painting reveals its power. The artworks shown in the exhibition Malerei, böse (Painting, evil) compel us to questions our morals and beliefs. It becomes clear that all prevalent normative attributions and inscriptions reflect only our cultural convictions, which are highly debatable.