F E A R F U L A W E S O M E – Ecstasy, death and rebirth of a male painter
Seline Baumgartner, Nancy Barton & Mike Glass, Bjoerk (One Little Indian-Elektra Records), Ella Joyce Buckley, Shadi Harouni, Andy Hope 1930, Alexa Hoyer, Jürgen Klauke, Austin Lee, Michael Mahalchick, Nadja Verena Marcin, Adam Parker Smith, Thomas Zummer
January 23 – February 15, 2014
{TEMP} Art Space
47 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
The exhibition “FEARFULAWESOME– Ecstasy, death and rebirth of a male painter” speaks to the beauty and brutality of ambiguity. At the center of the exhibition stands the surreal act of Amazing (2007-2013) by Andy Hope 1930, depicting a man in the arms of a blonde Überwoman. Simultaneously a muse, dominatrix and archetypal mother, she carries the fallen, impotent hero in a gesture echoing the Pietà. Two blue cloud-like ghosts appear in a tumultuous sky. A golden eagle looms above the scene signifying an authoritarian imprint, a reminder of history, politics, and surveillance.
The story unfolds somewhere between earth, heaven and hell. The title is written directly onto the painting, making the author an active character in this playful yet sublime narrative about love and surrender, generosity and control, forgiveness and restrain, devotion and personal limitation, heritage and future.
Amazing reveals human erring and error in its deepest sense: the silence around the irrational; the speechlessness; the adrenalin; the fear; the passion; the literal death of the author. Amazing never clarifies whether the fallen hero is dead. It’s a story devoid of resolution and a confession about the conflict of being human, forever caught in the fray between emotion and reason.
In recent series of public attacks, some of the individual’s hidden and secret obsessions have made their way into the public sphere. Secluded and unshared emotions, born from disappointment and the unhappiness of isolation, come out by both sensationalism and spectacle of media, continually fascinating and captivating the public. In the omnipresent triumph of “The Society of the Spectacle” (1967), Debord, death and violence are attached by a seductive quality, often ecstasy, evoking a sad voyeuristic curiousness as entertainment.
With “FEARFULAWESOME– Ecstasy, death and rebirth of a male painter” we would like to open the discussion about the power of emotions concerning the ambiguity and contradiction in human behavior. The disposition of body and mind becomes evident in contemporary society on many different levels. From both sublime to literal, we choose to show works that challenge the viewer to rethink his own standing as a private persona and as a public person in society.
SANE is a curatorial collective led by artists and curators who strive to inspire intrepid critical inquiry and a dynamic platform for artistic exchange and dialogue. SANE was founded by Sarah Corona, Alexa Hoyer and Nadja Verena Marcin.
Opening hours: Thursday – Saturday, 12- 7 pm, and by appointment
Closing event: February 15, 2014, 7 – 10 pm
7.45 pm – Thomas Zummer – ‘I Play My Guitar The Way I want”
8.15 pm – Nadja Verena Marcin will premiere Soft Horn (2014), a performance engaging 10 actors and dancers lead by Busy Businessman including Soja-Latte, Cactus and the Copulation Couple inside the Adrenalin Console. Strangely familiar cinematographic sequences evoking TV culture, soft porn and subculture will be examined and subverted.
9 pm – Composer and vocalist Ella Joyce Buckley will be performing a collage of raw current material. “Through music,” she says, “I want to understand all the things that bring my body to life.” Her work is non-didactic and prefers to speak directly to the human heart.
