Five Friends - a Proposal by Walter Dahn
25 Aug - 01 Oct 2011
FIVE FRIENDS IN ZURICH - A PROPOSAL BY WALTER DAHN
Together with: Katja Heddinga, Alfred Jansen, Christof John, Ulrich Pester
25 August - 1 October, 2011
WALTER DAHN
For Walter Dahn, professor at Kunstakademie Braunschweig, group exhibitions together with his current or former students are a means of not only unlocking the diversity of the art world for his students, but also of continuously developing his own art through constant dialog. For this exhibition Walter Dahn invited two of his students, Ulrich Pester and Christof John, and also asked two good friends and colleagues to join the group show, Katja Heddinga and Alfred Jansen.
KATJA HEDDINGA
“Writing is the opposite of telling stories... It is: telling a story as well as the absence of a story. It is: a story that comes into being through the absence of a story.” (M.Duras) “...the one who rediscovers the hidden relations of things and their scattered similarities” (Foucault) In some works, Heddinga has joined several photographs into one work. The artist does not strive to puzzle the viewer with these work combinations or make a possible interpretation more complex. She does not want to add something to one photograph or make more out of it. It is the opposite of adding something; it is the attempt to open up a picture that is otherwise closed in on itself. Katja Heddinga works as a free-lance photographer and lives in Cologne.
ALFRED JANSEN
“This series of photographs was shot on July 7th in Los Angeles, during the funeral service for Michael Jackson in front of the Staples Center. That is the place where, some weeks before, Jackson was rehearsing his comeback-tour. Incidentally, I was in town. Of course I took the opportunity to see what it all looked like. The media, fans, and people wanting to make some quick cash with hastily manufactured devotional objects. Apart from those, astonishingly few people. “ This new series by Jansen will be presented for the first time at Schau Ort. Alfred Jansen lives in Cologne and works as a photographer for several national and international magazines and advertising clients.
CHRISTOF JOHN
In his paintings, Christof John scouts out the aspects of non-verbal thoughts and emotional spaces between the boundaries of loose and geometric abstraction. A contemplative concentration is caused by an opaque to slight coating of color. Christof John is a student of Walter Dahn’s master class of painting at Kunstakademie Braunschweig HBK.
ULRICH PESTER
Starting point of Ulrich Pester’s constructed worlds of imagery are at first natural objets trouvés, which the artist describes as “forms, known things, light and shadow, wind, openings and forces; as nature”. Despite the natural origin of his sujets, Pester is not a naturalist in the sense of a classic Naturalism. The first idea of a motive is alienated during the process of bringing it onto the canvas. It develops its own dynamics and autonomy. Pester is interested in the potential changes of what he saw; how it is first deconstructed and then finds new form in his paintings, withstanding any laws of physicality or logic. Ulrich Pester is a student of Walter Dahn’s master class of painting at Kunstakademie Braunschweig HBK.
Together with: Katja Heddinga, Alfred Jansen, Christof John, Ulrich Pester
25 August - 1 October, 2011
WALTER DAHN
For Walter Dahn, professor at Kunstakademie Braunschweig, group exhibitions together with his current or former students are a means of not only unlocking the diversity of the art world for his students, but also of continuously developing his own art through constant dialog. For this exhibition Walter Dahn invited two of his students, Ulrich Pester and Christof John, and also asked two good friends and colleagues to join the group show, Katja Heddinga and Alfred Jansen.
KATJA HEDDINGA
“Writing is the opposite of telling stories... It is: telling a story as well as the absence of a story. It is: a story that comes into being through the absence of a story.” (M.Duras) “...the one who rediscovers the hidden relations of things and their scattered similarities” (Foucault) In some works, Heddinga has joined several photographs into one work. The artist does not strive to puzzle the viewer with these work combinations or make a possible interpretation more complex. She does not want to add something to one photograph or make more out of it. It is the opposite of adding something; it is the attempt to open up a picture that is otherwise closed in on itself. Katja Heddinga works as a free-lance photographer and lives in Cologne.
ALFRED JANSEN
“This series of photographs was shot on July 7th in Los Angeles, during the funeral service for Michael Jackson in front of the Staples Center. That is the place where, some weeks before, Jackson was rehearsing his comeback-tour. Incidentally, I was in town. Of course I took the opportunity to see what it all looked like. The media, fans, and people wanting to make some quick cash with hastily manufactured devotional objects. Apart from those, astonishingly few people. “ This new series by Jansen will be presented for the first time at Schau Ort. Alfred Jansen lives in Cologne and works as a photographer for several national and international magazines and advertising clients.
CHRISTOF JOHN
In his paintings, Christof John scouts out the aspects of non-verbal thoughts and emotional spaces between the boundaries of loose and geometric abstraction. A contemplative concentration is caused by an opaque to slight coating of color. Christof John is a student of Walter Dahn’s master class of painting at Kunstakademie Braunschweig HBK.
ULRICH PESTER
Starting point of Ulrich Pester’s constructed worlds of imagery are at first natural objets trouvés, which the artist describes as “forms, known things, light and shadow, wind, openings and forces; as nature”. Despite the natural origin of his sujets, Pester is not a naturalist in the sense of a classic Naturalism. The first idea of a motive is alienated during the process of bringing it onto the canvas. It develops its own dynamics and autonomy. Pester is interested in the potential changes of what he saw; how it is first deconstructed and then finds new form in his paintings, withstanding any laws of physicality or logic. Ulrich Pester is a student of Walter Dahn’s master class of painting at Kunstakademie Braunschweig HBK.