English
Deutsch
until 16.11. | #4464ARTatBerlin | Q Gallery presents from 18th October 2024 the exhibition “THREE PEARLS. AND A LAKE. UZBEKISTAN – in painting and photography”. In this double exhibition, artist Inge H. Schmidt and photographer Krzysztof Płaza will be showing their works created during their trip to Uzbekistan.
Fascinated by the history of the ancient Silk Road, Krzysztof Płaza and Inge H. Schmidt have been travelling through Central Asia for almost two decades. Usually on arduous routes, packed with rucksacks, cameras and painting utensils, they try to visualise traces of this route artistically.
In 2023 they travelled through Uzbekistan. They created works about the three pearls, Samarkand, Bukhara and Xiva, probably one of the most important stops on the historic Silk Road and reminiscent of the fairy tales from ‘One Thousand and One Nights’.
But the two of them also ‘went’ to the north, to a region that is becoming increasingly devastated and desolate, to a place where the once mighty Aral Sea is wasting away and whose history makes you shudder.
However, it is precisely this contrast that inspires the two artists immensely. Their works, including some from earlier years, are on display at the Q Gallery Berlin.
Alte Festung in Buchara, 2023, Tusche, Papier, 46 x 66 cm
INGE H. SCHMIDT
Her extensive oeuvre of immense drawing power, intensity and skill has been deeply influenced by her travels and encounters with people from different cultures, especially ethnic minorities, especially in the last two decades. In order to live with these families, paint their faces and write down stories from their lives, the artist would travel to the ‘ends of the earth’.
The last stop was Uzbekistan. This time everything was different.
It was the mastery and immaculate beauty of the historical architecture of three cities that seemed like pure magic to her. On the one hand, man creates grandiose things, on the other, he is destructive. This time, man is only perceptible, not visible.
No matter what and where, every detail, no matter how inconspicuous, harbours a secret world that the artist wants to make visible in this exhibition.
Itschan Kala (Ichan Qala). Khiva.
KRZYSZTOF PŁAZA
Krzysztof Plaza photographs, lives and thinks the way he hikes and travels: off the beaten track and away from the mainstream. He is a kind of photographic adventurer. A contemporary witness with all the consequences.
With a constantly alert eye and an incredible feel for people. Although his photographic work mainly focuses on people in the context of complex socio-cultural relationships, he, like Inge H. Schmidt, shows a different side of a country in this exhibition of photographs. The atmosphere he captures in his photographs shows his fascination for the ancient Silk Road and the stories of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. He developed his love and historical knowledge of the region over many decades.
Travelling with him, says the painter, is like travelling on a magic carpet. Fast and you never know where the road will take you.
Vernissage: Friday, 18 October, 2024, from 19:00 to 22:00
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 19 October – Saturday, 16 November 2024
To the gallery
Image above: Schiffswrack auf dem Trockenen des Aralsees II, 2024, Mischtechnik auf Papier, 30 x 49 cm
Exhibition Inge H. Schmidt und Krzysztof Płaza – Q Gallery Berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
