BERLIN, Galerie Jan Wentrup: Upcoming Museum Exhibitions, 05/31/08 - 09/07/08 and 05/30/08 - 08/10/08

UPCOMING MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Kunsthalle Mannheim

AXEL GEIS

Solo show

Opening 05/30/08

Exhibition 05/31/08 – 09/07/08

In his oil paintings, Axel Geis (born in 1970) focuses on the human figure.

It acquires an enigmatic presence in an undefined or only sparsely appointed picture space. The artist’s paintings are borne by a mood that oscillates between the familiar and the alien. The persons presented in full or half portrait appear strangely aloof and self-centred, even when they look at the spectator.

Axel Geis often uses an assembly of family-owned photos as the basis for his paintings. Due to the absence of an explanatory context, the figures depicted in his paintings point far beyond the personal, however, to the level of a general view of the human being seeking to connect to the portrait genre in the form of a traditional painting.

Another group of pictures refers to film stills. Here, the artist includes the cineastic presentation of human images in his aesthetic deliberations.

Apart from figures based on photographic or cineastic models, Geis creates „invented“ presentations of humans figures. These paintings are directed less towards portraiture in its role of depicting the internal and external nature of human beings, but address the fundamental question of the perception and function of pictures.

kestnergesellschaft, hannover 

„back to black“ 
Group show 

Opening 05/29/08

Exhibition 05/30/08 - 08/10/08

Pablo Alonso, Janis Avotins, Armin Boehm, Rafal Bujnowski, André Butzer, Philipp Haager, Gregor Hildebrandt, Andreas Hofer, Udomsak Krisanamis , Rezi van Lankveld, Victor Man, Jonathan Meese, Peter Peri, Zbigniew Rogalski, Pat Rosenmeier, Wilhelm Sasnal, Yehudit Sasportas, Emanuel Seitz, Florian Süssmayr, Ned Vena, Thomas Zipp

Galerie Jan Wentrup
Tempelhofer Ufer 22
10963 Berlin
Tel. + 49 (0)30 48 49 36 00
Fax + 49 (0)30 48 49 36 01
www.janwentrup.com