Dirk Bell
Retour
20 May - 18 Sep 2011
Dirk Bell, Steelback, 2007, wood, wallpaper, colour, cement, 117 x 95,5 x 9 cm, Photo: Ellen Page Wilson, New York
Dirk Bell, Amaia, 2007
installation in multiple parts, linoleum, easel, mixed technique on display dummy, mixed technique on disc, variable installation size
installation in multiple parts, linoleum, easel, mixed technique on display dummy, mixed technique on disc, variable installation size
© Dirk Bell, L'enfant, 2009
The artist Dirk Bell (*1969) utilises the most varied and seemingly conflicting pictorial languages in his installations, paintings and drawings. These range from Symbolism, Jugendstil and Minimal Art to contemporary popular culture. A preoccupation with the aesthetic – or external – structures of these movements corresponds to a critical analysis of their respective agendas. Abstract concepts such as love or freedom and their figurative attributions are exposed and given ambivalent interpretations.
A new sculpture, »FREE LOVE«, specially created for the Pinakothek der Moderne, forms the centrepiece of Dirk Bell’s first comprehensive museum exhibition. The words in the work’s title are placed in a context that can be physically experienced, with »love« and »freedom« appearing as opposing forces. The minimalistic sculpture acts as a leifmotiv throughout this first overview of the artist’s work to date, that now covers a period of 20 years. Dirk Bell has devised this retrospective like the description of a route.
Dirk Bell was born in Munich and now lives in Berlin and London. Following solo exhibitions and participation in shows in London, New York, Glasgow, Basel, Berlin, Bremerhaven, Bergen and Baden-Baden, this exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne is the artist’s first in his native city.
A new sculpture, »FREE LOVE«, specially created for the Pinakothek der Moderne, forms the centrepiece of Dirk Bell’s first comprehensive museum exhibition. The words in the work’s title are placed in a context that can be physically experienced, with »love« and »freedom« appearing as opposing forces. The minimalistic sculpture acts as a leifmotiv throughout this first overview of the artist’s work to date, that now covers a period of 20 years. Dirk Bell has devised this retrospective like the description of a route.
Dirk Bell was born in Munich and now lives in Berlin and London. Following solo exhibitions and participation in shows in London, New York, Glasgow, Basel, Berlin, Bremerhaven, Bergen and Baden-Baden, this exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne is the artist’s first in his native city.