Kiss Kiss
24 Nov 2005 - 28 Jan 2006
KISS KISS
Edgar Bryan
Yoshitomo Nara
Lari Pittman
Sue Williams
opening reception: November 24, 2005, 6 – 9 p.m.
duration: November 24, 2005 – January 28, 2006
„And have you met my little basil as well?’ She nodded towards the dachshund curled up so comfortably in front of the fire. Billy looked at it. And suddenly, he realized that this animal had all the time been just as silent and motionless as the parrot. He put out a hand and touched it gently on the top of its back. The back was hard and cold, and when he pushed the hair to one side with his fingers, he could see the skin underneath, greyish-black and dry and perfectly preserved.
‚Good gracious me’ he said. ‚How absolutely fascinating.’ He turned away from the dog and stared with deep admiration at the little woman beside him on the sofa. ‚It must be most awfully difficult to do a thing like that.’
‚Not in the least,’ she said. ‚I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?’
‚No, thank you,’ Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds...“
excerpt from
Roald Dahl, The Landlady.
In: KISS KISS, 1959
KISS KISS is the name of a collection of eleven short stories written by the Norwegian-English author Roald Dahl (1916-1990). However, this coquettish and cheeky title does not tell anything about the scurrile and macabre punchline stories that you can find in this collection.
The exhibition of the same name at c/o - Atle Gerhardsen shows a selection of four paintings of four artists working in a different way as far as the content of their work is concerned. Like the short story collection, every work tells its own story, whose topical background is often more obscure than its colorful or caricatural and funny visual appearance.
Sue Williams’ (*1954) works shine in happy candy colors. At first glance, the forms appear abstract, but most of the time, the work is about representations of oversized genitalia and other body parts. She already focuses on the topic of sexuality in her early work in the course of the 1990s, whose content was developed on the basis of feminist approaches to sexual abuse and male aggression.
A little girl surrounded by multicolored spots in a violet background, dreamily folds her arms behind her back and keeps her eyes closed. Yoshitomo Nara (*1959) grew up as a latchkey child of a working class family in the North of Japan. The representations of lonely children, often also furious and armed, reflect, as a kind of self-portrait, the introverted imagination of children that have to care for themselves.
The paintings Dead Souls of Edgar Bryan (*1970) show records that are scattered next to their covers in the corner of a room. The work’s title is taken from the song of the same name of the group Joy Division, whose lead singer, Ian Curtis, was influenced by the satiric short novel Dead Soulds written by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
Like in an ever returning nightmare, Lari Pittman (*1952) shows in his works of 2004 historic weapons with decorative motives and opulent patterns. Animal figures populate the scenarios and reinforce the impression of psychological and physical violence.
Please do not hesitate to contact Sabine Schmidt / c/o - Atle Gerhardsen for further assistance and visual material at T: +49-30-69518341, F: +49-30-69518342, e-mail: office@atlegerhardsen.com or visit our website at www.atlegerhardsen.com.
© Image by Lari Pittman
Edgar Bryan
Yoshitomo Nara
Lari Pittman
Sue Williams
opening reception: November 24, 2005, 6 – 9 p.m.
duration: November 24, 2005 – January 28, 2006
„And have you met my little basil as well?’ She nodded towards the dachshund curled up so comfortably in front of the fire. Billy looked at it. And suddenly, he realized that this animal had all the time been just as silent and motionless as the parrot. He put out a hand and touched it gently on the top of its back. The back was hard and cold, and when he pushed the hair to one side with his fingers, he could see the skin underneath, greyish-black and dry and perfectly preserved.
‚Good gracious me’ he said. ‚How absolutely fascinating.’ He turned away from the dog and stared with deep admiration at the little woman beside him on the sofa. ‚It must be most awfully difficult to do a thing like that.’
‚Not in the least,’ she said. ‚I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?’
‚No, thank you,’ Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds...“
excerpt from
Roald Dahl, The Landlady.
In: KISS KISS, 1959
KISS KISS is the name of a collection of eleven short stories written by the Norwegian-English author Roald Dahl (1916-1990). However, this coquettish and cheeky title does not tell anything about the scurrile and macabre punchline stories that you can find in this collection.
The exhibition of the same name at c/o - Atle Gerhardsen shows a selection of four paintings of four artists working in a different way as far as the content of their work is concerned. Like the short story collection, every work tells its own story, whose topical background is often more obscure than its colorful or caricatural and funny visual appearance.
Sue Williams’ (*1954) works shine in happy candy colors. At first glance, the forms appear abstract, but most of the time, the work is about representations of oversized genitalia and other body parts. She already focuses on the topic of sexuality in her early work in the course of the 1990s, whose content was developed on the basis of feminist approaches to sexual abuse and male aggression.
A little girl surrounded by multicolored spots in a violet background, dreamily folds her arms behind her back and keeps her eyes closed. Yoshitomo Nara (*1959) grew up as a latchkey child of a working class family in the North of Japan. The representations of lonely children, often also furious and armed, reflect, as a kind of self-portrait, the introverted imagination of children that have to care for themselves.
The paintings Dead Souls of Edgar Bryan (*1970) show records that are scattered next to their covers in the corner of a room. The work’s title is taken from the song of the same name of the group Joy Division, whose lead singer, Ian Curtis, was influenced by the satiric short novel Dead Soulds written by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
Like in an ever returning nightmare, Lari Pittman (*1952) shows in his works of 2004 historic weapons with decorative motives and opulent patterns. Animal figures populate the scenarios and reinforce the impression of psychological and physical violence.
Please do not hesitate to contact Sabine Schmidt / c/o - Atle Gerhardsen for further assistance and visual material at T: +49-30-69518341, F: +49-30-69518342, e-mail: office@atlegerhardsen.com or visit our website at www.atlegerhardsen.com.
© Image by Lari Pittman