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until 30.10. | #3133ARTatBerlin | Galerie Kornfeld presents from 15th September 2021 the solo exhibition Berliner Freiluft with works by the painter Christopher Lehmpfuhl. In advance, on 11 and 12 September 2021, you can experience Christopher Lehmpfuhl’s works where they were created (more below).
Breathing freely can be a privilege, now more than ever. For the Berlin artist Christopher Lehmpfuhl, at least, the air outdoors is a large part of his inspiration. For his next exhibition, Berliner Freiluft, the artist was drawn to the Beelitz-Heilstätten – a former clinic for the treatment of lung diseases just outside Berlin. His new oil paintings and watercolours will be exhibited there for the first time before moving to the rooms of the Kornfeld Gallery in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
The Beelitz sanatoriums were opened in 1902 as a place for healing and recuperation from lung diseases. After a chequered history, large parts of the grounds and buildings are now in a desolate state, although a revival with a change of use has recently begun. Christopher Lehmpfuhl’s works, which explicitly deal with the abandoned buildings of the clinic, are thus a form of artistic coping with the present that refers to historical continuities.
Vorfrühling in Beelitz-Heilstätten, 2021, Öl auf Leinwand, 180 x 240 cm
The choice of subject is a return in a double sense, not only to the former use and history of the place, but also a reference back manifests itself in the artistic process of the plein air painter. In the sensuality and physical experience of his impasto colour reliefs, which Christopher Lehmpfuhl creates with his hands, the close relationship to the concepts of early modernism, romanticism and impressionism becomes clear. Thus, Lehmpfuhl’s paintings correspond to a reaction to the restrictions on the realities of life in times of pandemic and prove to be both topical and timeless time and again. The process of painting becomes a performative act that fulfils the growing longing for physical experience, for the aesthetic experience far removed from the digital.
The sensual approach to painting is characteristic of the artist. Like the Impressionists more than a century ago, he brings his colours and his canvases to his subjects. Fully aware of the historicity of what he is doing, Christopher Lehmpfuhl goes outside, exposes himself to wind and weather, but also to the reactions of passers-by or the sounds and smells of his environment. He observes, senses, hears and smells and then reaches into the paint, which he layers with his hands to create impasto colour reliefs.
Beelitz im Licht, 2021, Öl auf Leinwand, 40 x 50 cm
Christopher Lehmpfuhl’s physical and emotional feelings find their direct expression in works that are images, but also pure painting with almost abstract coloured forms on canvas. The subjective act of painting arises from an inner necessity. Playfully and seriously at the same time, the artist deals with the idea that his creative powers are stimulated by the immediate sensual perception of his environment.
His fascination with the environment shaped by human beings, with the uniqueness of plays of light and weather conditions makes Christopher Lehmpfuhl not only a cartographer of his own biography, but also a chronicler of our world in the 21st century. His interest in the transience of the moment links the images of his hometown with the works of the Beelitz sanatoriums, each documenting conditions that are in the process of dissolving in the continuous transformation of cityscapes and streets.
Fernsehturm, 2020, Aquarelle auf Bütten, 30 x 20 cm
Christopher Lehmpfuhl, Master student of Klaus Fußmann at the Berlin University of the Arts, he has received numerous awards, including a scholarship from the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the GASAG Art Prize Berlin. His works can be seen at exhibitions in institutions, museums and galleries at home and abroad. After being honoured by the Museum Würth in Künzelsau with a solo exhibition in 2020/21, the Museo Würth La Rioja in Spain and the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Schloss Gottorf, Landesmuseum Schleswig-Holstein are currently presenting comprehensive solo exhibitions of the artist’s work.
Opening: Thursday, 16 September 2021, 12:00 – 7:00 pm
Exhibition dates: Wednesday. 15 September – Saturday, 30 October 2021
Berliner Freiluft in Beelitz-Heilstätten: Saturday + Sunday, 11 + 12 September, 10:00 am – 6:00 p, (Experience the works of Christopher Lehmpfuhl where they were created!)
WHERE? Kultur Beelitz-Heilstätten, Straße nach Fichtenwalde 3, 14547 Beelitz-Heilstätten
Zur Galerie
Exhibition Christopher Lehmpfuhl – Galerie Kornfeld | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
