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Beck & Eggeling Contemporary
Veranstaltungen im Rahmen der DC OPEN -
Bitte verlängerte Öffnungszeiten vom 7.-9.9. 2012 beachten!
Anläßlich seiner dritten Einzelausstellung bei Beck & Eggeling Contemporary präsentiert
Wolf Hamm eine Reihe neuer Arbeiten, die er unter dem Titel „In der Kürze der Zeit“
zusammenfasst. Er bezieht sich hiermit auf die Dauer eines Menschenlebens und die
Frage, was das Individuum daraus macht.
Hamms Bilder sind narrative, doch zugleich rätselhafte Kompositionen, in denen Mensch
und Natur vor kontrastreichen Kulissen aufeinandertreffen: Figuren sind in Szenen
eingebunden; sie nähern und trennen sich. Ihre Anmutungen zwischen Schönheit und
Schrecken schildern elementare menschliche Erfahrungen. Sein persönliches Umfeld und
seine familiären Strukturen spielen eine entscheidende Rolle in seinem künstlerischen
Schaffen, so Hamm. Sie geben Impuls und Inspiration, die als Bilder zu komplexen
Bedeutungsträgern verdichtet werden. Seine Arbeiten laden den Betrachter dazu ein,
deren Sinn und Bedeutung in Bezug zum Sinn und der Bedeutung des eigenen Lebens zu
stellen, die sich durch jeweils individuelle Weltanschauung ergeben.
Die mehrschichtige Erzählweise und gelegentliche Einbeziehung kulturell codierter Stilmittel
wie Comic oder Manga wird zu einem Charakteristikum Hamms Malerei: „Naturalistische
Elemente stehen neben Ornament und Abstraktion. Realismus, Pathos, überladene Dekors
und beherrschte Form korrespondieren in waghalsiger Kompositionsakrobatik und lassen
den Betrachter nie in beruhigter Ordnung ankommen. Die vibrierende Vielschichtigkeit
behält auch hinter Glas ihre Unruhe“, wie der Autor Rainer Beßling zusammenfasst.
Hamms Bildformate sind mit der Zeit gewachsen, und es wird deutlich, dass er seine Bilder
in einen größeren inhaltlichen Zusammenhang stellt. In seinem jüngsten, ambitionierten
Projekt „Die großen Prozesse“ widmet er sich in acht zyklischen Bildtafeln den
Entwicklungsstufen der Menschheitsgeschichte. „Der Aufbruch“, eine dieser
monumentalen Panorama-Arbeiten, wird zentraler Bestandteil der Galerieausstellung sein.
Neben Arbeiten auf Acrylglas werden zudem Zeichnungen - erstmalig auch kleinformatige
- und Grafik ausgestellt.
Wolf Hamm ist 1974 in Delmenhorst geboren. Sein Studium an der Hochschule für Künste in
Bremen und an der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf schloss er als Meisterschüler bei Prof.
Siegfried Anzinger ab. Seit nunmehr 10 Jahren sind seine Arbeiten in Einzel- und
Gruppenausstellungen zu sehen. Hamm lebt und arbeitet in Berlin.
Der Künstler ist während der DC OPEN anwesend.
Es erscheint ein Katalog.
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Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art is pleased to present the second solo exhibition
within two years of the British painter Desmond Lazaro in Düsseldorf. Raised in England,
where he also studied painting, Lazaro returned time and again to his cultural roots and
studied the art of miniature painting – especially the Pichhvai painting tradition of
Rajasthan – for many years, learning all its many facets. The Pichhvai painting tradition
comprises many aspects of artistic production, from handmade pigments, canvases and
paintbrushes to the actual painting of miniatures with impressive precision and including
traditional Indian ornamentation.
The current exhibition comprises a series of small and large format works, most of which
were completed in 2011-2012. Whereas Lazaro's working method and handmade painting
utensils are firmly anchored within Indian tradition, his subjects are highly contemporary
and apparently derived from everyday life, including interiors, letterboxes and pedestrians.
Nevertheless, all objects and figures are part of a culturally and historically rooted
iconography and also always reflect the artist's experiences of his own multicultural
existence. Lazaro's years of experience of working in the special Pichhvai painting tradition
has awarded him international recognition and various exhibitions platforms. His critical
examination of the poles of tradition and modernity, time-honoured handicraft and
innovation, East and West, religion and secularism makes his visually refined work also
thematically relevant on a universal scale.
Desmond Lazaro was born in Leeds in 1968. After completing his university studies, he
continued on and obtained a masters degree from the renowned Baroda University in
India and wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Pichvai tradition at the Prince's School of
Traditional Art in London. In 2004, he founded his own company, which produces
handmade paper and pigments. He also established a foundation dedicated to the
promotion and revival of traditional art in northern India.
On the occasion of his third solo exhibition at Beck & Eggeling Contemporary, Wolf Hamm
will present a series of new works brought together under the title “The Short Time We Have
Left”, which makes reference to the duration of human life and the question of what
makes us individuals.
Hamm's paintings are narrative, yet at the same time enigmatic compositions, in which
man and nature encounter each other in front of sceneries rich in contrast: Figures are
embedded within the scenes; they approach each other and separate again. Their
appearances between beauty and horror portray elementary human experiences.
Hamm's personal environment and his family structures play a decisive role within his art.
They provide impulses and inspiration, which are then consolidated in his paintings into
complex carriers of meaning. His works invite the viewers to analyse their meaning and
significance in relation to the meaning and significance of their own lives, which result
from their own individual views of the world.
The multi-layered narrative technique and occasional inclusion of culturally encoded
stylistic devices such as comics or manga figures have become characteristic feature of
Hamm's painting in general: “Naturalistic elements stand side by side with ornamentation
and abstraction. Realism, pathos, ornate decoration and restrained forms correspond with
each other in daring compositional acrobatics and never let the viewer arrive in peaceful
order. The vibrating complexity maintains its restlessness even behind glass”, as the author
Rainer Beßling concludes.
The format of Hamm's paintings has increased over time, and it becomes clear that he
sees his pictures as being part of a greater thematic context. In his most recent, highly
ambitious project “The Great Processes”, he dedicates himself, across eight cyclical
panels, to the evolutionary stages of human history. “The Departure”, one of these
monumental panoramic works, plays a central role within the current exhibition.
In addition to works behind acrylic glass, drawings – for the first time also in smaller formats
– and prints will be on view.
Wolf Hamm was born in 1974 in Delmenhorst and completed his studies at the College of
Fine Arts in Bremen and the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, where he was a master student
of Prof. Siegfried Anzinger. He has been exhibiting his works in solo and group exhibitions
for more than ten years. Wolf Hamm lives and works in Berlin.
The artist will be present during the DC Open weekend.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue.
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