Alexander Lieck
Mein Europa
24 Feb - 06 May 2018
With the solo exhibition »Mein Europa« (My Europe), the Kunstverein Hannover is presenting the first retrospective of the oeuvre of Alexander Lieck (*1967 in Berlin, lives in Berlin).
The artist poses fundamental questions to the role of art, in particular to the medium of painting. The traces of the painterly process in his works have a captivating effect. They are masterful and at the same poetic, and demand independent consideration without holding ready any contextualizations. Alexander Lieck writes the following in his manifesto-like text »Kunst und Malerei« (Art and Painting) from 2013:
»I don’t want to demonstrate anything with my art or possibly prove anything; I don’t seek the picture or painting but the imagination, victory over the idea, self-conquest, working against oneself and perhaps even time and again failing because of or with oneself.«
The title of the exhibition already opens up a wide field of associations consisting of geographical references and content-related connections, which Lieck evokes especially through the choice of titles for his works. They operate much like paintings themselves: associative, erratic, poetic. His inquiry into form continues in the drawings, sculptures, and photographs developed in urban space that he produces parallel to his paintings. Concepts such as ruin, amateurishness, or the unmistakable debates on “bad painting” or the “end of painting” are addressed artistically.
Beyond his ongoing individual practice, collaborative works are also being shown that he developed with Olivier Foulon (*1976 in Brussels, lives in Berlin). Foulon’s conceptually arranged works like deal with gaps and traces—in which the interface between the two artistic positions is based.
The artist poses fundamental questions to the role of art, in particular to the medium of painting. The traces of the painterly process in his works have a captivating effect. They are masterful and at the same poetic, and demand independent consideration without holding ready any contextualizations. Alexander Lieck writes the following in his manifesto-like text »Kunst und Malerei« (Art and Painting) from 2013:
»I don’t want to demonstrate anything with my art or possibly prove anything; I don’t seek the picture or painting but the imagination, victory over the idea, self-conquest, working against oneself and perhaps even time and again failing because of or with oneself.«
The title of the exhibition already opens up a wide field of associations consisting of geographical references and content-related connections, which Lieck evokes especially through the choice of titles for his works. They operate much like paintings themselves: associative, erratic, poetic. His inquiry into form continues in the drawings, sculptures, and photographs developed in urban space that he produces parallel to his paintings. Concepts such as ruin, amateurishness, or the unmistakable debates on “bad painting” or the “end of painting” are addressed artistically.
Beyond his ongoing individual practice, collaborative works are also being shown that he developed with Olivier Foulon (*1976 in Brussels, lives in Berlin). Foulon’s conceptually arranged works like deal with gaps and traces—in which the interface between the two artistic positions is based.