English
Deutsch
until 18.03. | #3319ARTatBerlin | EIGENHEIM Berlin shows from 11th February 2022 the exhibition IMG_ with paintings by the artist Enrico Freitag at the gallery. Parallel to this, works by the artist Tommy Neuwirth will be shown in the gallery’s salon under the title “PLACES WHERE real ARE”.
IMG_ Paintings by Enrico Freitag
Enrico Freitag‘s visual worlds take us into the simultaneous realities of inner states and global events – introspective, silent portraits alternate with images from the news and media world such as volcanic eruptions, explosions or forest fires. Especially in times of pandemic, the inner and outer conditions, the understanding of the coexistence of individual and world, have been shaped and irritated by new digital imaginary spaces and truths. We sit at home, watching global events through the endless news feeds of digital media landscapes and thus develop an abstract image of reality that is disconnected from reality. The essence of the individual human being is also unsettled by this.
Enrico Freitag develops universal images for these unsettled inner states and the abstraction of reality. The colourful expressive pictures are dense with colour mass, oscillate between abstraction and figuration and become autosuggestive motifs and representations that develop further in mental space. The explosion and the volcanic eruption become metaphors for the force and immutability of global events and thus depict a macrocosm; the still life of the bouquet of flowers is in this case not only a sign of transience, but also an image of the microcosm of one‘s own four walls. The painterly proximity of both motifs, in terms of composition, abstraction and gesture, again shows the inseparable affinity of these two ways of looking at the world – micro-macro ego-world. In this way, the painter manages to thematise the current state of disruption of the individual and society – and to do so universally without taking a platitudinous or attitudinous stance on individual events.
Enrico Freitag, FIG 221, 2022, Oil on canvas, 27 x 24 cm
Looking at Freitag‘s oeuvre, this is a completely comprehensible development, based on his pleasure in further developing motifs and content and his lasting artistic research therein, irrespective of the versatility of his motifs and painterly modes of expression. For years, Freitag has taken on worldly themes such as work, production or environmental destruction, while at the same time directing his gaze to the inner sensitivities of human existence. Now, at a moment when people have been intensely preoccupied with themselves for the past two years and the world is beginning to distort like a mirage, he brings together both of these content-related discussions.
The title of the exhibition IMG_ refers to our digital way of life. As a file abbreviation, IMG_ is part of almost every digital image as an abbreviation of „image“. Image, in turn, is a related term to imagination. As nouns, the difference between imagination and image is that imagination is the image-making power of the mind; the act of ideally creating or reproducing an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images, while image is a visual or other representation of a real object; a graphic; a picture. As a verb, again, image means to represent something symbolically. So we have arrived exactly where the artist Enrico Freitag wants us to be: symbolic images in which it is almost impossible to distinguish between imagination and reality.
Enrico Freitag was born in Arnstadt in 1981. From 2002 to 2007 he studied fine arts at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. He has won prizes and scholarships, such as the working scholarship for fine arts from the Free State of Thuringia. His works are represented in public and private collections. Enrico Freitag lives and works in Weimar and has had his studio in the Städtisches Atelierhaus in Weimar since 2020.
PLACES WHERE real ARE byTommy Neuwirth
PLACES WHERE real ARE – Political and social action and argument, the fair resolution of differences of opinion is only possible on the basis of a shared reality. Increasingly, the splitting of a shared reality can be observed. So-called alternative realities are emerging. In times of Corona, for example, realities circulating on the internet have also made it onto the streets through the “lateral thinking movement”. With the help of fake news, a common reality is being deliberately shaken up. Insecurities that already exist – climate change and its unforeseeable consequences, the erosion of social and monetary certainties, etc. – are thereby reinforced. – are thereby reinforced. Alternative realities, conspiracy theories and simple explanations of the world are gaining popularity and supposedly provide a foothold in a world without a foundation.
The supermarket chain real sums itself up with four letters. The word real adorns the supermarket buildings, often in large illuminated letters. They can be recognised from afar. It is clear and obvious what and where real is. For Tommy Neuwirth, the large illuminated letters are a setting. He fades out the supermarket and sees only the word in the surroundings – real. He visits the places WHERE real ARE. He does it only for himself. It gives him support.
Tommy Neuwirth, PLACES WHERE real ARE, EIGENHEIM Berlin Salon, 2022
The real supermarkets are becoming fewer and fewer due to break-ups. Of the original 279 stores, 60 will remain under the name real (as of 21.01.2022). The visual setting of what and where real is, and thus secure anchors in a more mixed-up present, are becoming fewer and fewer.
As The Worldwide Network for an Unconditional Basic Income, Tommy Neuwirth plays in countless theatres and stages from Fusionfestival to Szene Zeigen, from Volksbühne to Computer Chaos Club, and in his videos, music pieces and performances he deals sensitively and profoundly with political questions around patriotism and populism, social democracy and revolution. In doing so, he moves along bizarre paths between avant-garde and pop culture, exposes the actual state of society and sensitively and subtly brings the finest irritations of this to the surface of the republic.
Tommy Neuwirth and EIGENHEIM Weimar/Berlin have been working together for many years in a variety of curatorial projects. Now we are pleased to be able to show the graduate of the Bauhaus University Weimar for the first time in a solo exhibition. The opening on 11.02.2022 at 7 pm in the EIGENHEIM Berlin Salon will be accompanied by a musical performance.
Opening for both exhibitions: Friday, 11 February 2022, from 7:00 p.m.
Exhibition dates: Friday, 11 February until Friday, 18 March 2021
To the Gallery
Exhibition Enrico Freitag + Tommy Neuwirth – EIGENHEIM Berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
