Thomas Zipp
17 Oct - 15 Nov 2008
© THOMAS ZIPP
Oil on canvas and framed text
Painting: 58 x 50 cms/ 22 7/8 x 19 5/8 ins
Frame: 33,7 x 28 cms / 13 1/4 x 11 ins
Oil on canvas and framed text
Painting: 58 x 50 cms/ 22 7/8 x 19 5/8 ins
Frame: 33,7 x 28 cms / 13 1/4 x 11 ins
THOMAS ZIPP
"WHITE DADA"
“The pope tells me what to do... Painting kind of touches you, and sucks you in, and opens you up tosome new points. That?s what drugs can do as well.” Thomas Zipp, 2007.Following his critically acclaimed solo exhibition PLANET CARAVAN? IS THERE LIFE AFTERDEATH? a FUTURISTIC WORLD FAIR at the South London Gallery in 2007, Alison Jacques Gallerypresents Thomas Zipp?s second exhibition with the gallery. For WHITE DADA the artist will fill themain room with a large arena installation complete with an organ and drums. This installation will alsoinclude a stone sculpture of a male torso, a series of new drawings and large-scale paintings. Theopening night will feature a musical performance by Thomas Zipp and his band.Borrowing from the world image histories of science, religion and philosophy, Zipp takes an anarchicpleasure in playing the role of visionary, moralist, poet, and humourist. In his paintings, drawings, andsculptural works, different belief systems are deconstructed through formal investigation andexperimentation. Zipp frequently layers found imagery with painterly techniques, thereby engineeringa confrontation between the past and present.Imbued with a gothic spiritualism and an underlying sense of nihilism the artist takes an ambivalentstance on a number of recurring figures from German history including Martin Luther, Otto Hahn (thechemist who discovered nuclear fission), and the 16th Century astronomer Johannes Kepler. Zippemploys humour and irony to reanimate these controversial intellectual geniuses, most of whom hereproduces as distorted or defaced.Using collage effects, Zipp?s protagonists are tipped into nightmarish realms of insanity andintoxication. His mode of free association and metaphor allows a mushroom cloud form to become atree and a speech bubble outline to fuse into that of a planet or pill. A Surrealist?s delight for word-playand combinations of script with image provide further means through which to create his uniquevision. The fantastic possibilities that Zipp offers confound all logical explanation; a response,perhaps, to what the artist considers being the non-readable nature of our world.Thomas Zipp (Born in Heppenheim, 1966) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo museum exhibitionsinclude PLANET CARAVAN? IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? a FUTURISTIC WORLD FAIR,Museum Dhondt - Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2008) South London Gallery, London (2007) andKunsthalle Mannheim, Museum in der Alten Post, Muehlheim, catalogue published, (2007); Achtung!Vision: Samoa, The Family of Pills & The Return of the Subreals, Oldenburger Kunstverein,Oldenburg, catalogue published (2005). Group museum exhibitions include: Sympathy for the Devil,Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2007); André Butzer, Andreas Hofer, Thomas Zipp and more,Rubell Family Collection, Miami /USA; Defamation of Character, PS1, New York (2006); Rings ofSaturn, Tate Modern, London (2006); Of Mice and Men, 4th Berlin Biennale (2006). Thomas Zipp?sforthcoming solo exhibition at Sammlung Goetz, Munich will run from 15 June – 10 October, 2009 andwill be accompanied by a catalogue.
"WHITE DADA"
“The pope tells me what to do... Painting kind of touches you, and sucks you in, and opens you up tosome new points. That?s what drugs can do as well.” Thomas Zipp, 2007.Following his critically acclaimed solo exhibition PLANET CARAVAN? IS THERE LIFE AFTERDEATH? a FUTURISTIC WORLD FAIR at the South London Gallery in 2007, Alison Jacques Gallerypresents Thomas Zipp?s second exhibition with the gallery. For WHITE DADA the artist will fill themain room with a large arena installation complete with an organ and drums. This installation will alsoinclude a stone sculpture of a male torso, a series of new drawings and large-scale paintings. Theopening night will feature a musical performance by Thomas Zipp and his band.Borrowing from the world image histories of science, religion and philosophy, Zipp takes an anarchicpleasure in playing the role of visionary, moralist, poet, and humourist. In his paintings, drawings, andsculptural works, different belief systems are deconstructed through formal investigation andexperimentation. Zipp frequently layers found imagery with painterly techniques, thereby engineeringa confrontation between the past and present.Imbued with a gothic spiritualism and an underlying sense of nihilism the artist takes an ambivalentstance on a number of recurring figures from German history including Martin Luther, Otto Hahn (thechemist who discovered nuclear fission), and the 16th Century astronomer Johannes Kepler. Zippemploys humour and irony to reanimate these controversial intellectual geniuses, most of whom hereproduces as distorted or defaced.Using collage effects, Zipp?s protagonists are tipped into nightmarish realms of insanity andintoxication. His mode of free association and metaphor allows a mushroom cloud form to become atree and a speech bubble outline to fuse into that of a planet or pill. A Surrealist?s delight for word-playand combinations of script with image provide further means through which to create his uniquevision. The fantastic possibilities that Zipp offers confound all logical explanation; a response,perhaps, to what the artist considers being the non-readable nature of our world.Thomas Zipp (Born in Heppenheim, 1966) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo museum exhibitionsinclude PLANET CARAVAN? IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? a FUTURISTIC WORLD FAIR,Museum Dhondt - Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2008) South London Gallery, London (2007) andKunsthalle Mannheim, Museum in der Alten Post, Muehlheim, catalogue published, (2007); Achtung!Vision: Samoa, The Family of Pills & The Return of the Subreals, Oldenburger Kunstverein,Oldenburg, catalogue published (2005). Group museum exhibitions include: Sympathy for the Devil,Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2007); André Butzer, Andreas Hofer, Thomas Zipp and more,Rubell Family Collection, Miami /USA; Defamation of Character, PS1, New York (2006); Rings ofSaturn, Tate Modern, London (2006); Of Mice and Men, 4th Berlin Biennale (2006). Thomas Zipp?sforthcoming solo exhibition at Sammlung Goetz, Munich will run from 15 June – 10 October, 2009 andwill be accompanied by a catalogue.