Ludger Gerdes
28 Oct - 03 Dec 2011
LUDGER GERDES
28 October – 3 December, 2011
A cooperation with the "Archiv für Künstlernachlässe der Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn"
Ludger Gerdes (*1954 in Lastrup near Cloppenburg; †2008 in an accident near Dülmen) was one of the most important German artists of his generation. Starting out from the context of the Düsseldorf Academy of the 1970s and 1980s – he studied painting under Gerhard Richter from 1977 to 1982 – Ludger Gerdes strove to create works of art that were free from dogma, uninfluenced by ideologies and altogether open to contradictions and inconsistencies. He was critical of the correlation that exists between museums, exhibitions and artists and sought to respond with solutions based on philosophically literary and artistic models.
To this end he queried the relationship between art and life and found the “missing link” in architecture and, in particular, in the landscape gardens of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. One of his best known works in the “public space” is his contribution to the Münster Sculpture Projects in 1987, for which he created his “Ship for Münster”, a two-master with a bow, stern and cabin surrounded by a kind of moat. Two poplar trees served as the masts and the cabin took the form of a pavilion. Gerdes’ word sculptures, such as the neon sculpture ICHS (EGOS) of 1989 in the garden of the Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, likewise count among the important parts of his oeuvre.
His explorations of surfaces and pictorial realities found expression in his paintings, graphics and photo diptychs. For the forthcoming exhibition we have succeeded in bringing together a whole diversity of works that show the enormous breadth and many different aspects of his oeuvre.
Ludger Gerdes began his studies at the Münster Art Academy in 1975, attending the art classes of Timm Ulrichs and Lothar Baumgarten, and then moved in 1977 to the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he studied under Gerhard Richter until 1982. From 1990 until 1992 he himself taught at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and from 1998 until 2004 he was a professor at the HFG in Karlsruhe and then, from 2004, professor of painting at the Muthesius-Kunsthochschule in Kiel. His most important exhibitions include: 2008 Haus der Kunst, Munich / 2003 Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg /1998 Première Biennale de Montréal /1997 Musée d'art moderne, Saint-Etienne; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / 1994 Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Kunsthalle Kiel / 1993 Witte de With, Rotterdam / 1992 Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart / 1990 Kunstraum und Kunstverein, Munich / Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld; 2000 Jahre. Bonner Kunstverein; The Institute for Contemporary Art - PS1, New York / 1988 Stichting de Appel, Amsterdam / 1987 Münster Sculpture Projects / 1986 42nd Biennale di Venezia, Aperto; 7 Skulpturen. Kölnischer Kunstverein / 1985 Le Consortium, Dijon / 1984 Produzentengalerie, Hamburg / 1982 documenta 7, Kassel; Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf; Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich.
28 October – 3 December, 2011
A cooperation with the "Archiv für Künstlernachlässe der Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn"
Ludger Gerdes (*1954 in Lastrup near Cloppenburg; †2008 in an accident near Dülmen) was one of the most important German artists of his generation. Starting out from the context of the Düsseldorf Academy of the 1970s and 1980s – he studied painting under Gerhard Richter from 1977 to 1982 – Ludger Gerdes strove to create works of art that were free from dogma, uninfluenced by ideologies and altogether open to contradictions and inconsistencies. He was critical of the correlation that exists between museums, exhibitions and artists and sought to respond with solutions based on philosophically literary and artistic models.
To this end he queried the relationship between art and life and found the “missing link” in architecture and, in particular, in the landscape gardens of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. One of his best known works in the “public space” is his contribution to the Münster Sculpture Projects in 1987, for which he created his “Ship for Münster”, a two-master with a bow, stern and cabin surrounded by a kind of moat. Two poplar trees served as the masts and the cabin took the form of a pavilion. Gerdes’ word sculptures, such as the neon sculpture ICHS (EGOS) of 1989 in the garden of the Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, likewise count among the important parts of his oeuvre.
His explorations of surfaces and pictorial realities found expression in his paintings, graphics and photo diptychs. For the forthcoming exhibition we have succeeded in bringing together a whole diversity of works that show the enormous breadth and many different aspects of his oeuvre.
Ludger Gerdes began his studies at the Münster Art Academy in 1975, attending the art classes of Timm Ulrichs and Lothar Baumgarten, and then moved in 1977 to the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he studied under Gerhard Richter until 1982. From 1990 until 1992 he himself taught at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and from 1998 until 2004 he was a professor at the HFG in Karlsruhe and then, from 2004, professor of painting at the Muthesius-Kunsthochschule in Kiel. His most important exhibitions include: 2008 Haus der Kunst, Munich / 2003 Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg /1998 Première Biennale de Montréal /1997 Musée d'art moderne, Saint-Etienne; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / 1994 Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Kunsthalle Kiel / 1993 Witte de With, Rotterdam / 1992 Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart / 1990 Kunstraum und Kunstverein, Munich / Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld; 2000 Jahre. Bonner Kunstverein; The Institute for Contemporary Art - PS1, New York / 1988 Stichting de Appel, Amsterdam / 1987 Münster Sculpture Projects / 1986 42nd Biennale di Venezia, Aperto; 7 Skulpturen. Kölnischer Kunstverein / 1985 Le Consortium, Dijon / 1984 Produzentengalerie, Hamburg / 1982 documenta 7, Kassel; Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf; Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich.