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until 23.07. | #3451ARTatBerlin | Galerie mehdi chouakri presents two exhibitions “Solid Coated” with new works by the artist John M. Armleder from 30. April 2022 (Opening: 28.04.). The exhibitions will be shown in the Galerie am Fasanenplatz and in the new opened premises of the gallery in the Wilhelm Hallen (Kopenhagener Straße 60-72, 13407 Berlin-Reinickendorf).
Armleder’s artistic career dates back to the late 1960s. As a co-founder of Groupe Ecart (1969), he was closely associated with the Fluxus-movement, his practice being characterised by musical and performative experiments, as well as installations. Since then, he has developed a polymorphous body of work that includes performances, drawings, paintings and sculptures. He achieved international fame in particular through his Furniture Sculptures series, created in 1979. In these series, Armleder combines classics of furniture design with painting, thus taking up questions of the ready-made and addressing the iconic significance of the work of art as an accessory. Combinatorics, chance and the connection between art and life are central aspects of his artistic practice. The dissolution of any compositional schemes and the randomness in the creative process are visualised in his Pour and Puddle Paintings. By pouring and mixing different colours and materials, the reactions of these with each other and their movement on the picture surface, Armleder leaves the overall visual result almost entirely to chance.
In the new premises of the Wilhelm Hallen, which were restored by the gallery last year in collaboration with Studio Phillip Mainzer, current works by the artist are now on display. In the entrance area of the hall, visitors are greeted by a large-scale wall painting in which Armleder takes up the logo of the popular Currywurst-Imbiss Bier’s 195 and reinterprets it. His new works in the exhibition space pick up on the aforementioned well-known, prominent series of works and ideas, which are directly related to the space. The selection and spatial design thus reflect in detail the media- and object-related diversity of his artistic work and enable visitors to experience the spatial reference and the interplay of the works individually. This is evoked, for example, by the installation of over 50 convex mirrors spread across an entire wall of the exhibition space. In form of a triptych and the total length of six metres, three Pour Painitings are shown, whose technical process of creation is revealed and visualised. New Furniture Sculptures complete the presentation and reflect the polymorphism in Armleder’s practice, as well as his taking up of established work ideas.
John M. Armleder, Logo “Solid Coated”
Programmatically, the exhibition is complemented by other recent works by the artist, which are shown at the gallery’s location at Fasanenplatz. Both exhibitions are closely related and refer to each other – the exhibition at Fasanenplatz is to a certain extent a miniaturised version of the exhibition in Wilhelm Hallen: There, too, visitors entering the gallery encounter a part of the logo of Biers’ 195 in the form of a red, glowing neon tube. New puddle paintings, which for the first time also include objects on the picture surface, are shown alongside miniaturised Furniture Sculptures and other object assemblages.
Opening: Thursday, 28. April 2022
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 30. April – Saturday, 23. July 2022
Special opening for the Gallery Weekend Berlin: Saturday, 30. April and Sunday, 1. May 2022
To the Gallery
Exhibition John M. Armleder – mehdi chouakri | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
