press release - Barbara Gross Galerie

B A R B A R A
G R O S S
G A L E R I E
VARDA CAIVANO, MARIETA CHIRULESCU, GERDA SCHEEPERS
›3 Positions on Painting‹
Exhibition: May 3 - June 6, 2012
In the exhibition ›3 Positions on Painting‹ we present young artists whose works lay open
contemporary painting strategies. The exhibition is affiliated with the gallery program, which
includes established painters such as Katharina Grosse, Karin Sander, Marthe Wéry, and Eva
Hesse.
The classic concept of painting is only the superficial connection linking the three painters
here, who allow themselves to be guided by notions of space, music, or digital processes.
In this way, they design their own innovative categories. By dissolving the boundaries
separating the genres of photography, painting, and installation, the three painters alter the
visual habits of the viewer.
Marieta Chirulescu reworks existing material with the help of modern reproduction techniques.
Photographs, photocopies, pictures found on the Internet, screen shots, scanned glass plates,
or even just the blank image from the copy machine serve as the basic material. In the work
process the artist subjects each image to a unique procedure: photocopies are applied to
canvas and painted over with oils, Laserchrome prints are transferred to slides, or black-andwhite photographs from archives are scanned and printed. In this way Chirulescu appropriates
“foreign” images, allowing them to develop new lives of their own, while they tell of the
conditions behind the production of images. Her digitally (scanner) or analogue (copy
machine) images are combined on various levels with analogue painting, creating new visual
forms along the way.
Gerda Scheepers appropriates space in her paintings. It is the subject of her works, and the site
where the work is carried out. Often they are interiors, floor plans, or sketchy allusions to real
spaces, which open up a new, imaginary space. The individual scenes taking place in Scheepers'
paintings are organized like collages on the canvas and then arranged in relationship to each
other in the space. This allows an open-ended narrative to develop: the figures in the paintings
and the objects in the space enter into a dialogue. Furthermore, she goes beyond the classic
notion that a painting is a panel painting: Scheepers covers canvas in fabric and arranges them
like installations in the space.
Varda Caivano describes herself as an old school painter. Her paintings - all in oil on small
canvases - linger on the threshold of representationalism, yet remain abstract. Paint is applied
in impasto layers on the canvas, emphasizing the physical presence of the paintings. The artist
describes her process as a continuing dialogue with historical Modernist positions. Playing a
role here are artists who found parallels in music for their experiments with abstract painting,
such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and František Kupka. For Caivano music embodies the
kind of multi-dimensionality that she also seeks in her paintings. The paint takes on the
function of an instrument, which is capable of intoning a variety of pitches.
THERESIENSTRASSE 56 . D-80333 MÜNCHEN
TEL +49/89/296272 . FAX +49/89/295510
[email protected]
B A R B A R A
G R O S S
G A L E R I E
Short biographies
Marieta Chirulescu, b. 1974 in Sibiu, Romania, lives and works in Berlin. Solo shows: White Cube, Bermondsey, London (2011); Kunstverein Nuremberg (2011); Works from the Sammlung Martin, Neues
Museum, Nuremberg (2011); Kunsthalle Basel (2010); Galerie Micky Schubert, Berlin (2010); Projektraum Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin (2009); Kunsthalle Mainz (2009). Group exhibitions (selected): Back
to the Old House, Clifton Benevento, New York (2010); Winter in America, Tanja Pol, Munich (2010);
Fade Into You, Herald St, London (2010); The Hoax is a Hoax or May or May Not Be, Galerie Carlos
Cardenas, Paris (2010); La preuve concrète/ The Concrete Proof, Centre Européen d’Actions Artistiques
Contemporaines, Strasbourg (2009); Gesang von Abschied und Neubeginn, Mayerei, Karlsruhe (2009);
Max Hans Daniel Presents, Autocenter, Berlin (2009); Against Interpretation, Studio Voltaire, London
(2009); Nothing to Say and I am Saying It, Kunstverein Freiburg (2009)
Gerda Scheepers, b. 1979 in Tzaneen, South Africa, lives and works in Berlin. Solo shows: Center, Berlin
(2011); Mary Mary, Glasgow (2010); Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2009); Micky Schubert, Berlin (2008); Art
Cologne Preis für junge Kunst 2006 in der Artothek, Cologne (2007); Art Cologne 2006 (New Talents
Program), Sprüth Magers, Cologne / Munich / London (2006); Bonner Kunstverein, Peter Mertes
Stipendium (2006). Group exhibitions (selected): 7, Sprüth Magers Lee, London (2005); I Could Chair
This Dance, Simultanhalle, Cologne (2006); Modus, Neue Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland
(collaboration with Thea Djordjadze and Rosemarie Trockel) (2006); Elegance, Kölnischer Kunstverein
(collaboration with Thea Djordjadze and Rosemarie Trockel) (2007); Dearie Does the Do Not Care, Halle
für Kunst E.V., Lüneburg (2010)
Varda Caivano, b. 1971 in Argentina (Italian citizen), lives and works in London. Solo shows: Victoria
Miro Gallery, London (2011); Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kyoto (2009); Galerie Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
(2007); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2007); Kunstverein Freiburg (2006); Victoria Miro Gallery, London
(2005). Group exhibitions (selected): CIRCUS, Berlin (2012); Collection 2 – Focus on Recent
Acquisitions, National Gallery of Osaka, Japan (2010); East End Academy: The Painting Edition,
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2009); Rose Tinted Glasses, Gavin Brown passerby, New York (2008);
Expanded Painting - Prague Biennale 2, Prague (2005); Mourning (curated by Varda Caivano), Galerie
Sies & Höke, Düsseldorf (2005); Painting 2004, Victoria Miro Gallery, London (2004); New Contemporaries, Camden Arts Centre, London and Sunderland Museum, Sunderland (2001)
THERESIENSTRASSE 56 . D-80333 MÜNCHEN
TEL +49/89/296272 . FAX +49/89/295510
[email protected]