Galerie Karsten Greve Cologne is pleased to present the exhibition 51 WERKE to start off the year. The group exhibition highlights the work of different female artists who have either significantly impacted the gallery's work for decades or have recently brought in new perspectives.
51 carefully selected works by Louise Bourgeois, Pierrette Bloch, Catherine Lee, Georgia Russell, Kathleen Jacobs, Leiko Ikemura, Luise Unger, Young-Jae Lee and Claire Morgan provide an insight into the shared history of these artists and Galerie Karsten Greve in Cologne, which was founded in 1973.
Don't Swallow Me! from 2008 is one of the largest-format works by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911 - 2010). The collage on paper combines printmaking elements, fabric, red gouache and writing, central elements from her seven-decade œuvre, whose first solo exhibitions in Europe were held at Galerie Karsten Greve.
The reduced ink works by Pierrette Bloch (1928 - 2017) from the 1970s to 2000s exemplify the work of this pioneer of French abstraction. Bloch always remained consistent with her use of simple materials and forms, such as the dot and the line, from which she developed her own minimalist formal language based on the spontaneous artistic gesture.
Kathleen Jacobs (*1958) works are created in an interplay between herself and nature that is influenced by Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. Jacobs creates her compositions outdoors on canvases wrapped around tree trunks, sometimes over a period of several years. Using a frottage technique, she captures the traces of the environment and transforms them into the basis of a complex artistic process for her abstract landscapes.
Young Jae-Lee's (*1951) ceramic works reflect the traditional Korean mastery of the medium. Since 1987, Lee has led the ceramic workshops at Margaretenhöhe in Essen, which date back to the Bauhaus era and are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. In their seriality and repetition of form and color, her spindle vases and spinach bowls oscillate between traditional technique and contemporary art.
American artist Catherine Lee (*1950), whose most recent solo exhibition celebrated her 30-year partnership with the gallery, transfers the element of seriality into sculpture. Her often multi-part ceramic wall works combine sculpture, relief and painting and continue the tradition of serial painting of post-war art.
In her paintings and sculptures, which oscillate between the figurative and the abstract, Berlin-based Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura (*1951) combines the aesthetics of Far Eastern and Western painting. Her topics and motifs are based on myths and legends that can be found both in the Orient and in Europe.
Georgia Russell (*1974) remains consistent with her technique of precise cuts using a scalpel, creating a distortion between reality and illusion. Her "Cells of Light" create a transition between light, air and color. The materials she uses range from old books, paper and canvas to fabric, such as organza in her latest works. By painting the surfaces, she creates her own pictorial invention, which is given a further dimension through the act of cutting.
Claire Morgan's (*1980) multifaceted practice explores topics between violence and vulnerability, where balance is of crucial importance. She takes inspiration from natural cycles, life and death, and the impact we as humans have on our immediate environment, nature and wildlife.
The sculptures by Luise Unger (*1956) made of crocheted steel wire alternate between the architectural and anthropomorphic. The emerging silhouettes create an illusion of black shadows, while the hollow spaces in their center capture the light. The aesthetics of the permeability of her sculptures are reflected in the organic-looking works on paper, which, like looking through a microscope, reveal a multi-layered abstract world to the eye.
The interplay of the works on display opens up new perspectives, revealing unexpected connections and tensions and enabling a re-evaluation of each individual work in the exhibition.
Artists: Pierrette Bloch, Louise Bourgeois, Leiko Ikemura, Kathleen Jacobs, Catherine Lee, Young-Jae Lee, Claire Morgan, Georgia Russell, Luise Unger
Opening hours:
Tuesday - Friday 10am - 6.30pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Source: Galerie Karsten Greve
Galerie Karsten Greve Cologne
Drususgasse 1-5
50667 Cologne
Germany
tel. +49 (0)221 257 10 12
info@galerie-karsten-greve.de
https://galerie-karsten-greve.com/