JAKE & DINOS CHAPMAN – THE SUM OF ALL EVIL

Posted on 2013-08-05

The Chapmans make work that examines cultural and historical stereotypes, using acerbic and surreal humour to question the status quo of hegemonic iconographies. They have described their practice as a way of establishing ‘how and whether we are allowed, or able, to show moral views’ and this exhibition addresses such subjects, challenging collective fears and anxieties through a selection of highly confrontational and culturally dislocating works.

Monumental in scope and minute in detail, ‘The Sum of all Evil’ (2012-13) occupies the entire ground floor of the gallery and is the most densely imagined diorama installation that the artists have produced to date. The fourth in a series of ‘Hell’ landscapes, the first and most well known of which, ‘Hell'(1999), was destroyed in a warehouse fire, the work features a multitude of intricately modelled Nazi soldiers, along with various characters from the fast food chain McDonald’s, committing violent, abhorrent acts set amid an apocalyptic landscape within four glass vitrines. Darkly humorous, ‘The Sum of all Evil’, as its title suggests, is imaginative rather than descriptive: a summation of all the worst possible ‘evils’, violence runs amok in a trans-historical and a-temporal arena.

The first floor gallery features four new diorama sculptures which expand on the themes from ‘The Sum of all Evil’. In one vitrine, the instantly recognizable, bathetic character of Ronald McDonald is depicted as a melancholic fisherman on a crumbling jetty, his legs peacefully dangling over a lake thickly tangled with dead bodies. In another, a burnt out McDonald’s restaurant appears like a relic of contemporary consumerism, a ghostly reminder of its once ubiquitous global presence.

Exhibition runs through to August 31st, 2013

White Cube Hong Kong
50 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong

whitecube.com

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STEPHEN BALKENHOL

Posted on 2013-08-05

At the beginning of the 1980s as student of Ulrich Rückriem, Balkenhol experimented with minimalist form language. The first wooden heads and figurines emerged in 1982. At this time, many artists began returning to figuration. Sculptors like Katharina Fritsch, Thomas Schütte, Martin Honert and Jeff Koons developed strategies for a figuration, that reflected the new parameters of Minimal and Conceptual Art.
The material unity of plinth and figurine, the open expressions and the indifferent postures are crucial aspects of Balkenhol’s works.

They demonstrate a reflection of Minimal Art: by abstaining from any expressivity, Balkenhol’s works advance from being representations of inner spaces and images to having presence in material and form in real space. In this regard Balkenhol’s archetypal sculptures are to a certain extent still tied to the „specific objects“ (Donald Judd).


In 2012, the installation of one of Balkenhol’s sculptures in the tower of St. Elisabeth in Kassel caused great public interest. This year his monument for Richard Wagner in Leipzig was cause for a passionate debate. Balkenhol’s work that is prominently displayed in public spaces in many countries, has been subject of discussions for over 30 years.
This show with new works is another opportunity to reflect or simply get enchanted by his concise as well as essential portrayals of people between everyday life, tradition and modernity.

Exhibition runs through to September 7th, 2013

Johnen Galerie
Marienstr. 10
10117 Berlin
Germany

www.johnengalerie.de

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DARREN COFFIELD – ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Posted on 2013-08-05

Ashes and Diamonds, an art exhibition by acclaimed painter Darren Coffield examining the minerʼs strike of the early 1980s.

Coffield is noted for his fine art portraiture, such as his painting of Nova magazine editor and 60s scenester Molly Parkin that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. But for Ashes and Diamonds Coffield has employed urban art influences “to communicate with the grandchildren of the miners and their families.” As a result the work is sometimes stark and uncompromising, simultaneously echoing the sombre nature of populist agitant art during the 1980s.

Inspired by former Derbyshire miner John Dunn, Coffield has created many of the pieces on display using coal obtained from the National Union of Mineworkers branch at Maltby Colliery in South Yorkshire which was officially closed in April 2013. Some pieces feature incendiary motifs in a stencil art style including the word “scab” hanging from the gallows. A stirring poster evocative of mass entertainment posters, commemorates The Battle of Orgreave in which miners were attacked by police, “Work” is a study of a coal plant in a democratic style reflecting the personal attachment many miners had with their place of employment. The emotive subject matter of such works as “Clockwork Orgreave” has been of particular relevance recently given the inquiries into police brutality and cover-ups at events such as Orgreave and Hillsborough.

Exhibition runs through to August 31st, 2013

The Outsiders Newcastle
77 Quayside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3DE
UK

www.theoutsiders.net

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