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until 06.03. | #2943ARTatBerlin | Galerie Born Berlin presents from 12 January 2021 on site and virtually the exhibition In Process with new works by artist Ilja Heinig .
It took longer than I thought, in any case a whole year, until I agreed with Ilja Heinig on a date for a visit to his country studio in Wehnigen on the Elbe. We had both only loosely agreed on an exhibition date for the beginning of 2021, what we would exhibit was to be decided on site in Wehningen. The last of the 4 – 5 joint exhibitions was a more than three years ago, and I have known his work for more than 30 years.
In contemporary art, Ilja Heinig is considered a representative of the “Neue Wilden”. When I first encountered his work, I was a little irritated by this at first. Because the so-called “Neue Wilden” such as Salome, Elvira Bach or Rainer Fetting all painted figuratively.
Ilja Heinig – Papagena, Acryl auf Leinen, 2008, 30 x 40 cm
Heinig, on the other hand, painted and paints abstractly. Always with a grand gesture, sometimes the canvases seem reminiscent of action painting. The impression is given that someone is acting here, and this can already be found in his early works at the beginning of the 1980s, painting a first sweep on the white painting surface with a thick brush, a mason would say tassel. Then often with only one colour, red for example, or yellow, and blue, he reacts to the black beginning and continues it. Heinig’s pictures seem to have been thrown down in a painting frenzy or action. There is no long pondering and thinking, the pictures grow naturally out of themselves.
With these thoughts in mind, I drove to Wehningen and when Ilja and I crossed the large property, he unlocked the studio and provided light, I was speechless for the first moment. Without question, these were works by Ilja Heinig, you can clearly see the origin. But not only were some of them more colourful, spreading a great freshness, they captivate you and take you along the painterly path that Ilya had taken and continues to take.
Ilja Heinig – Flood I, Acryl auf Leinen, 2020, 40 x 30 cm
We talked for a long time about his new works, sometimes I thought he wanted to withdraw one I had chosen for the exhibition because he suddenly didn’t consider it ready, but I told him that I was already building the exhibition in my mind’s eye and absolutely needed it for this one.
Ilja Heinig – Balls On Fire, Acryl auf Leinen, 2020, 30 x 40 cm
His answer at the end, before we went over to the apartment building, opened a beer and made the selection of the smaller formats: “Just take what you mean, everything is constantly in motion in my painting anyway, whether it is finished I often don’t know and I don’t really care, it is all IN PROCESS.”
Matthias Fuhrmann, December 2020
Ilja Heinig – Kora / Lucille, Diptychon, Acryl auf Leinen, 2020, 150 x 240 cm
A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition:
In Process, 2021, 21 x 29,7 cm, 20 pages, price 10,- € to order at info@galerie-born.de, © 2021 Galerie Born
Opening and virtual tour: Tuesday, 12 January 2021, 11 am – 6 pm
Exhibition dates: Tuesday, 12 January – Saturday, 27 February 2021 extended until Saturday 6. March 2021
Please note: limited access due to Corona situation – information on 030 749 20 270 and 0172 88 55 692
To the Gallery
Exhibition Ilja Heinig – Galerie Born Berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
