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Nguyen Xuan Huy Talking about Black Holes Art Collection Jena
December 12, 2020 to March 7, 2021
A catalog appears.

Graceful, naked female bodies, dancing or floating in erotic poses through unreal worlds. With dreamy, blissfully smiling or ecstatic faces, agile young people loll around on cushions, sometimes alone, sometimes as a group in atmospherically illuminated landscape scenes. The oil paintings by Nguyen Xuan Huy, painted in the manner of the old masters, are immediately overwhelming in their beauty. And they are disturbing - because the deceptive appearance quickly reveals itself and changes the mood: twisted or crippled limbs are noticed and threatening details such as machine guns, chicken wings or socialist symbols lurk everywhere. His identity is directly linked to the Vietnam War as the fundamental trauma of his origins. The consequences of the defoliant Agent Orange used by the US Army, which to this day causes numerous deformities, are just as central to his works as the socialist ideology with which he grew up in the communist country. Since 1994, Nguyen Xuan Huy has had his permanent residence in Germany and especially the perspective from the outside enabled him to artistically deal with the propaganda which, as he says, made him believe in a naive worldview of good and bad for a long time. In addition, there is an interested look in the other direction - at the tradition of Europe. Western art history inspired the painter at an early age, as can be seen in many quotes and allusions as well as his realistic, sensual way of depicting the human body. The mixing of these very different backgrounds led Nguyen Xuan Huy to see the many images in his head, despite all opposites to visually intertwine in large-scale fictions. Various set pieces from reality, ambiguous and puzzling moments of action and eerie, often dodgy atmospheres create a surreal world in which the logic of everyday life is undermined. While the usual boundaries are broken, dream and nightmare merge symbiotically. With Nguyen Xuan Huy, the Jena Art Collection presents fascinatingly sensual painting, which provokes emotional and intellectual reactions and demonstrates how the attractive and the repulsive can stimulate each other.

Utopian Civilizations Montblanc, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 160 x 140 cm, 15.000 Euro

Shanghai Utopian City, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 160 x 140 cm, 15.000 Euro

Paris Tour Miracle, 2017, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 100 x 50 cm, 7.500 Euro

Paris Liberté, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 140 x 160 cm, 15.000 Euro

New York Utopia at Brooklyn, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 140 x 180 cm, 16.000 Euro

London, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 60 x 90 cm, 7.500 Euro

Amazonia Utopica, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 140 x 200 cm, 17.000 Euro

UC Under Water London, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 160 x 140 cm, 15.000 Euro

Tokyo Night, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 50 x 70cm, 6.000 Euro

Cosmic Bag Art, 2020, Acryl auf Leinwand, 40 x 40 cm, 4.000 Euro

New York Utopia at Manhattan Bridge, 2020, Acryl und Tüten auf Leinwand, 140 x 200 cm, 17.000 Euro

Until January 10, 2021, Hans-Christian Schink will present his retrospective “So far. Photographs since 1990 ”. Seldom has there been an opportunity to see the oeuvre of the most important contemporary Thuringian artist in such a wide range. The show develops a compelling presence. This is possibly the strongest exhibition that has ever been seen in the Kunsthalle.

The German museums are currently closed. Nevertheless, it is possible to visit the exhibition as part of free educational offers. All hygiene measures are observed. For information and dates, please contact Ms. Grit Becher, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Tel. 0361 655 16 25.

In addition to Hans-Christian Schink's exhibition “So Far” in the Kunsthalle Erfurt, we are presenting selected works from the “Vietnam” and “Antarctica” series in our gallery. Visitors are asked to register by phone or email if possible. 0361 562 33 96 or galerie@rothamel.de.

 

Anyone looking at this picture seems to be looking into a showcase. The back is covered with a floral, flat-looking wallpaper, the floor is gray. The showpiece is a vase with a floral pattern on a black background, accurately placed in the center of the picture. Light reflections on the arch reinforce the impression of a neat presentation. But oh dear, the museum ambience of the pretty still life is disturbed! Rosy sausage shapes have crawled up to the fine ceramic from five sides and seem to want to climb it. One instinctively looks for traces of slime. But no, the artist didn't paint us any. Are these sausages just obscenely shaped supports, conceived by the crazy curator? They always mess up the pretty picture. Not only the geometrical symmetry suffers, the aesthetic one too. Is it politically incorrect, even racist, for the viewer to be uncomfortably touched by this pink invasion? Asymmetry, it turns out, can have psychological aspects too ... Mona Broschár studied at the Camberwell College of Arts in London and as a master student of Annette Schröter at the University of Graphic and Book Art in Leipzig.

Ellen Akimoto's work “Nachtzeit” shows a room composed of patterns and colored surfaces like a quilt. The traditional laws of space and perspective do not apply here. The dark behind the window is an absolute matt black. An introversial, haunting event unfolds on this stubborn stage. A young woman looking into the distance, mouth slightly, forearms in apprehension, the experience of understanding. The author of her revelation is the old woman sitting facing her, ghostly, silent, empathetic, visitor from another dimension. 700 years ago Giotto called the knowledge of the medieval worldview of reality into the picture. Ellen Akimoto's painting centers the perspective again on the arbitrary. Her art thus consists of a social process, of access management and self-administration. “Nighttime” is one of the iconic images of our time. Ellen Akimoto was born in Westlake Village in 1988. You have studied at the California State University, Chico, the Art Academy Mainz and as a master student of Annette Schröter at the University of Graphic and Book Art Leipzig.

Marten Schädlich in his work “Einzelwir” the philosophical concept of the monad into the picture, the simple and indivisible taxes. Monads are safe - there are no two alike - and they are self-sufficient - there is nothing that is better or can step outside. In their totality they form reality, although there is no real effect. Two towers, the right one like huge cliffs, stand in a landscape with wide green areas, scattered trees and strange elevations. The towers rise up into the clouds. Their common rights from their balconies have some outlook. You lost him in a trance. There is no experience between them. Everyone remains trapped in their own vision. Marten Schädlich's work “Einzelwir” formulates a parable of our society, which erodes through contact, exchange and perception of reality - just like the tower cliffs. Marten Schädlich (* 1986, working in Leipzig with Annette Schröter). Personal signs can be discovered in his eyes that give the guide hints: for example the banana tree in the arch of the doorway of the right tower, the bush at the entrance to the slow tower or the bicycles on which they give themselves climate-friendly to their huts.

In his lucid work “to painting”, Jonathan Kraus takes up the painting “The Death of Marat” by Jacques-Louis David and subtly criticizes the activism and ideologies of his and our time. The short revolutionary, scientist and doctor Jean-Paul Marat suffered from a skin disease and often sat in the bathtub for relief. Marat's demagogic newspaper "Ami du Peuple" was a mouthpiece for the sans-culottes, called for the execution of "enemies of the people" and triggered the September massacre. On July 13, 1793, he was stabbed to death by activist Charlotte Corday. Jacques-Louis David (1748 - 1825), a French classicist history painter, worked first for the king, then as a revolutionary painter and then for Napoleon. David took an active part in the revolution and voted for the king's execution. David painted his picture “The Death of Marat” immediately after the assassination attempt and dedicated it to the man who was stabbed to death. Jonathan Kraus (* 1989, studied in Dresden with Ralf Kerbach and in Leipzig with Annette Schröter) contrasts David's politicizing dedication with his own version. The lettering “to painting. kraus ”is a statement against political activism and for the essentials - in this case painting. Kraus brings himself into the image of the activist David and positions himself as the observer of the dead activist Marat. His features reflect thoughtfulness and distance. Technically, Kraus' painting can compete with David's and is much more reflective in terms of content. 

Nguyen Xuan Huy's current work is entitled "Excavation", "Ausgrabung". The eye is the symbol of perception.
Once buried, we can no longer differentiate between good and bad. Now we try to expose it again ... a Sisyphean work.Ngyuen Xuan Huy came to Germany from Vietnam at the age of 17, studied at the Halle Castle and completed a master's degree at the same art college. Scholarships have taken him to France and the United States. Today he lives in Berlin, inspired by classic European painting from the Renaissance to the Fauves, Nguyen develops image programs with high thematic density and social explosiveness. In the first years after completing his studies, Nguyen was still devoted to Vietnamese topics, but has been setting for about a decade he is critical of the state of Europe. His works are often metaphorical and take up iconic compositions: Géricault's "Le Radeau de la Méduse", Matisse's "La Danse", Goya's "Caprichos" and "Desastres", Michelangelo's ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel. Nguyen's paintings are constructive, vital, perfectly staged and virtuously set provocation. They differ in form and content from almost everything we know from current art.
They challenge their viewers emotionally and intellectually.
Next exhibition: Nguyen Xuan Huy, The Mirror, Galerie Rothamel Frankfurt, September 4 to October 17, 2020

From June 20, 2020 Opening: June 20, 2020 Curator: Daniel Blochwitz This year's Provincia special exhibition combines four positions with photographs by Ingar Krauss, Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler, Hans-Christian Schink and Ulrich Wüst, which deal with life in different ways away from the metropolises dedicate. The Photographic Collection - Kummerow Castle thus also introduces the new format of an annual temporary exhibition.
The Latin term Provincia was used in the administrative terminology of Rome: here the supply of the ancient metropolis was ensured.
And while the late Latin meaning of the word is still used today in large parts of Europe as a "region" or "district" in neutral language, the corresponding German term "province" has a negative connotation here. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is such for many people an epitome of province - a near-natural and poorly populated federal state with comparatively few and rather small cities.
The youth in particular always seem to be on the go here. At the same time, the area is also a place of longing for stressed city dwellers with promises of freedom for dreams and experiments, as well as space for relaxation and seclusion. The exhibition in Kummerow Castle does not represent the province as a lost or even detached region.
Instead, the unexcited and often poetic images show one neglected, but quiet area full of potential.
30. May - June 28, 2020
Saturday and Sunday
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
1. July - 27 September 2020
Wednesday to Sunday
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
2. October - November 1, 2020
Friday to Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Holidays during the season
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.