LINES at Konrad Fischer Galerie

Artists: Carl Andre, stanley brouwn, Daniel Buren, Alice Channer, Alan Charlton, Paul Czerlitzki, Hanne Darboven, Edith Dekyndt, Aleana Egan, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Rita McBride, Maria Nordman, Thomas Ruff, Yuji Takeoka, Merrill Wagner

Exhibition title: LINES

Venue: Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

Date: September 4 – November 6, 2020

Photography: images copyright and courtesy the artists and Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin

Konrad Fischer Galerie is pleased to present the group exhibition LINES, gathering an array of works dating from 1960 until 2020. The common thread throughout the diverse positions can be found in the use of the most minimal form in painting and sculpture – a simple line. A line is mathematically a coherent, one-dimensional geometric structure without traverse extension, being the shortest connection be-tween two points, no more, no less. With its strictness, simplicity and clarity the line is a recurring motif for artists of the preeminent Conceptual Art and beyond who are presented in this exhibition.

Richard Long, Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt have deeply investigated the linear form, setting up a strict framework for their artistic process to unfold variations of the similar. In the same wake, Daniel Buren or Alan Charlton have restricted most of their oeuvre to specific units of measurements. While the stripes of Buren’s work always have the exact width of 8.7 cm, Charlton once stated: “I am an artist who makes a grey painting”, which hasn’t changed until this day. Additionally, the size of his works are always based on the multiplier of 4.5 cm. stanley brouwn, whose work is never to be depicted, had chosen distance, size and time as his artistic medium, documenting his own movement in various forms.

Rita McBride focuses on inconspicuous elements, often architectural forms, of the urban landscapes and reinterprets them as minimalistic sculptures through the change of scale and material. She transmutes the technical pipe systems and cable ducts made of plastic, steel or copper in her “Glass Conduits” into pristine Murano Glass. In her work “De Ondas” (From the Waves) Maria Nordman transfers the wavy lines of water into a wooden modular system, depicting a deconstructed raft.

Merrill Wagner creates her structures with masking tape. In 1970, she begins experimenting with adhesive tape after constructivist minimalist paintings in the 1960s. She used the tapes in combination with oil and acrylic paints, but also graphite and carbon on plexiglass, transferring the still wet colors of wood fiber boards to plexiglass.

The series “zycles” by Thomas Ruff have a complex genesis, which has its roots in scientific copperplate engravings of magnetic fields from the 19th century. The artist transfers these ornamental curves from mathematics digitally into a three-dimensional space by means of computer programs.

Yuji Takeoka’s main body of work evolves around the pedestal, as the very foundation for placing other works. Takeoka reinterprets the pedestal in ever new forms, giving justice to its minimalistic beauty and simplicity as an object of interest.

Edith Dekyndt often uses ephemeral materials such as fabric, earth, liquids or salts. In doing so, she reveals those hidden forces of natural transformation and attempts to capture the change of living material. For her „Ogum“ series, towels, or tablecloth are stretched over a thick wooden frame. Using a tweezer, Dekyndt removes all horizontal weft threads, taking her several weeks of labor. What remains are very fine and fragile meshes of lines.

Alice Channer’s work embodies a new nature imitated by digitalised structures. Her works describe a state of being in which organic and mechanical relics merge into a common system. Two casts from stirrup leggings in translucent resin and aluminum are draped along the wall. While the titles remind of scientific descriptions their lush translucency share appearance to sweets. Her work “Gills” blurres the borderlines between clothing and sculpture. Here she used printed spandex that is wrapped around aluminum bars.

Paul Czerlitzki’s conceptual approach to image making, often times puts him in the position of the passive observer of his creations using a variety of techniques that gives in into the self-determination of the painterly process. In his recent works “Bye By” he uses pre-primed canvases that are acquired from a local art supplier store. Wrapped in plastic as a protective layer, these packagings often show cracks and fissures. Through these, Czerlitzki applies spray paint revealing those marks.

Daniel Buren, Three Paintings (Flags), 1973, white acrylic paint on cotton canvas woven in alternating white and blue/grey vertical stripes, each 8.7 cm wide, 300 x 220 cm