Artist: Sarah Ortmeyer
Exhibition title: GRANDMASTER (feat. MONSTER)
Venue: Dvir Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Date: December 8, 2016 – January 21, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Brussels
Note: MONSTER I – XI is made in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch
Was she a happy mother, a spiritual guru, a secret agent, the wife of someone famous? Or was she simply one of these female chess champions whose name we had forgotten? From one competition to the next, she lived below dramatic skies. Skies with impossible colors: off colors, off feelings from chaos to infinity. Someone once told her: “We are going through uncomfortably exciting times.” She needed a change in her life, she used to be a champion, and kept on thinking of what was coming next ? I was remembered the other day of her golden ring LXIV (64) she’s been wearing it since I’ve known her. Her idea of permanence and consistency always imbedded in her look. In a bar in New York years ago, a friend said to her: “We are the champions of the champions of the champions…” The tale of a night with Alexandra, Susan, Natalia, diluted in white liquors. She felt that throughout the years she kept on collecting data, a great amount of information that could help her win over and over. People recently informed her about this new artificial intelligence system called FaceNet, that claims to recognize 99% of human faces. She was intrigued … . For now on it will be all about “hackers and painters”. The terrifying idea that we couldn’t loose someone or get lost if we wanted to. The comforting idea that faces of loved ones were never to be erased. Like the exquisite marbling on the precious eggs, she composed with a fearless friend. After all she was thinking of moving to a new city or a Greek island or just staying where she was, but much more still than before.
–Julie Boukobza
Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER VIII, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER VII, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, NATALIA II, 2016, Paint on wood, table, 35 x 35 x 100 cm, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER IV, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer, NATALIA I, 2016, Paint on wood, unique, 45 x 45 cm, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER X and MONSTER XI, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, ALEXANDRA I, 2016, Paint on wood, 30 x 30 cm, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer, MONSTER, 2016, ostrich egg, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer, NATALIA XI, 2016, Paint on wood, 30 x 30, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, MONSTER, 2016, Ostrich egg, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER XIII, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer, ALEXANDRA II, 2016, Paint on wood, 40 x 40 cm, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER V and MONSTER VI, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, each unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, SUSAN II, 2016, Paint on wood, 20 x 20 cm, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, NATALIA II, 2016, Paint on wood, table, 35 x 35 x 100 cm, unique; Sarah Ortmeyer in collaboration with Kerstin Brätsch, MONSTER IV, 2016, Ink on ostrich egg, unique
Sarah Ortmeyer, NATALIA IX, 2016, Paint on wood 35 x 35 cm, unique
