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As if in a foreign country at Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder

October 12, 2016

Artists: Polly Apfelbaum, Lucas Arruda, Michael Berryhill, Juliette Blightman, Rodrigo Hernández, Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Sonia Leimer, José Antonio Suárez Londoño, Jimena Mendoza, Aliza Nisenbaum, Scott Olson, Arlene Shechet, Patricia Treib

Exhibition title: As if in a foreign country

Curated by: Chris Sharp

Venue: Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria

Date: September 9 – October 22, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna

As if in a foreign country is a group exhibition which approaches the idea of homage from a variety of perspectives: historically, geographically, culturally, architecturally, and perhaps most importantly, ironically. Playing with L.P. Hartley’s famous and much quoted opening sentence to The Go-Between (1953), “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” the exhibition reverently collapses a number of assumptions, from the idea of the “past” to the notion of foreignness imbedded within the anachronistic designation “foreign country.” This happens through the fact that all of the artists featured here are working within a classically modernist tradition– a past that is still very much present– which they either idiosyncratically elaborate upon or hybridize with other indigenous and arts and crafts traditions. By the same token, the notion of so-called “foreignness” is problematized by the no less dubious notion of the “native”, as if it were possible to circumscribe the latter, especially in the 21st century. Indeed, where the “foreign” formerly presupposed the “native,” and vice versa, their socio-cultural disenfranchisement is now, to a large extent, mutual, leaving little more than a system of continuous homage in their wake. Meanwhile, the exhibition intends to pay homage to the fact that Galerie nächst St. Stephen Rosemarie Schwarzwälder is not only one the oldest galleries in the world, but has been at the same address since the original founding, as the Neue Galerie, in 1923. Decorously embracing the original function of its context as a domestic living space, As if in a foreign country also acknowledges the symbolic dissolution of the separation between the public and the private at the heart of the gallery. Thus is homage plaited upon homage, weaving it all together in a lavish, if paradoxical salmagundi of homage.

Chris Sharp (*1974, USA) is a writer and independent curator based in Mexico City, where he and the Mexican artist Martin Soto Climent run the project space Lulu.

The exhibition takes place in the context of the gallery festival curated by_vienna: Meine Herkunft habe ich mir selbst ausgedacht [My Origins? I Made Them Up]. The theoretical starting point for the participating galleries and curators is provided through the eponymous essay by cultural theorist and author Diedrich Diederichsen. With the project curated by_vienna, the Vienna Business Agency and its creative center departure have been supporting cooperation between Viennese galleries for contemporary art and international curators since 2009.

Aliza Nisenbaum, Closed to Open, 2015
Gouache and oil on canvas, 35,6 x 30,5 cm / 14 x 12 in.

Michael Berryhill, Ohne Titel, 2016
Oil on linen, 23 x 30,5 cm / 9 1/2 x 12 in.

Juliette Blightman, Better together, 2016
Rocking chair, waste paper basket, hatrack, earth, plant, 180 x 130 x 100 cm / 70 7/8 x 51 3/16 x 39 3/8 in.

Lucas Arruda, Untitled, 2016
Oil on canvas, 30 x 37 cm / 11 13/16 x 14 9/16 in.

Rodrigo Hernández, Babylone, 2016
Papier-maché, wood, metallic lacquer, 50 x 45 cm / 19 11/16 x 17 3/4 in.

Rodrigo Hernández, tout de suite, 2016
Papier-maché, wood, metallic lacquer, 48 x 54 cm /18 7/8 x 21 1/4 in.

Rodrigo Hernández, Violent Interpenetration of Units, 2016
Papier-maché, wood, metallic lacquer, 64 x 49 cm / 25 3/16 x 19 5/16 in.

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Untitled, 2014
Handwoven wool, nylon and jersey, 216,5 x 183 x 14 cm / 85 1/4 x 72 x 5 1/2 in.

Sonia Leimer, I – Beam, 2016
Steel, foam, sublimation print on Martindale, ed. 1/3 + 1 AP, 49 x 46 x 30 cm / 19 1/4 x 18 1/8 x 11 13/16 in.

José Antonio Suárez Londoño, n°170, 1999
Etching, colorized, 13,5 x 8,7 cm / 5 5/16 x 3 7/16 in., framed: 30 x 22,5 cm / 11 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.

Jimena Mendoza, Policromía 8, 2015; Policromía 10, 2015; Policromía 7, 2015. Ceramic, 7 x 24 x 8 cm / 2 3/4 x 9 7/16 x 3 1/8 in., 26 x 8 x 8 cm / 10 1/4 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 in., 33 x 11 x 9 cm / 13 x 4 5/16 x 3 1/2 in.

Scott Olson, Untitled, 2014
Oil and marble dust on wood with poplar frame, 67 x 47 cm / 26 3/8 x 18 1/2 in.

Polly Apfelbaum, Amanda, 2013
Glazed clay, 23 x 26,5 cm / 9 1/16 x 10 7/16 in.

Arlene Shechet, Hint, 2015
Glazed ceramic, 30 x 19 x 14 cm / 11 3/4 x 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.

Arlene Shechet, Almost an Event, 2015
Glazed ceramic, concrete, ceramic: 23 x 24 x 18,5 cm / 10 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 4 in., concrete: 3,2 x 14,5 x 14,5 cm / 8 x 9 x 6 1/4 in.

Arlene Shechet, Intervals, 2015
Glazed ceramic, hardwood, ceramic: 26,7 x 10,8 x 10,2 cm / 10 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 4 in., wood element: 20,3 x 23 x 16 cm / 8 x 9 x 6 1/4 in.