EXHIBITION

Dear Darkness

Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, Berlin, 07/02/2015 - 08/29/2015

Auguststr. 11–13, Berlin

ABOUT

Dear Darkness follows the joy and allure on the dark side of life and shows its beauty. Like “The Dark side of the Moon” this partof life lays on the backside of rationality, enlightenment and brightness, but nevertheless saturates them inseparable. Both in regards of content and form artistic positions are brought together, all dedicated to darkness, night, shadow and the diverse varieties in the twilight and in the hidden. The works act as a form of emotional catalyser or subversive reflection, even an alternative draft towards the over informed and functioning lifestyle of our days. Darkness starts where it gets hard to differentiate things, the love to it with the enjoyment about exactly that situation.

Thematically most works approach the dazzling facets of club culture and nightlife. In the centre of these movements is the body in his drifting between lust, pain and violence, briefly: the waste of its life potential. Group dynamics with their rituals and codes intensify the undertow. The Anglo-American term “Dark Glam” may mark this conscious, collective ritualization and stylisation of “Being an outsider” towards a “remote” beauty at best. These external aspects are connected to dim sides of the soul like a fundamental scepticism towards the world, melancholy and addiction; but also and foremost with an escapism straight forward: into self-made freedom, satisfaction and shelter. The “soul” has a comeback into present, types of a contemporary, dark romanticism undercut society.

In this relation music works as an endless, darkly shining focal point for the carried in the border zone. It’s also the guiding thread and inspiration of the exhibition. “Dear Darkness” is a song of PJ Harvey from 2007. “Dear Darkness” is a title that implies and promises solace. Following life ́s nature the selection also considers the role of light and its figures, brings up an ambivalent questionnaire regarding to the orientation or illusion in the dark.

Under formal aspects these artists operate with the materialistic and visual specifics of shadow culture. May it be all too familiar surfaces like patina on old bronze, tar, coal, varnish or velvet, or adaptations of typical items like neon bulbs, mirrors, broken glass, music tapes or may it be visual phenomena like flashlights, reflections and cracks, always the elaborated sensuousness evokes certain memories in the viewer. Through the preferred genuine gravity centre the focus circulates around the enigmatic appeal of Dionysian decadence. Because we all just know them too well: the aspects prosper within the twilight of the dark zones.

For More Information

APT ARTISTS ON VIEW

Marc Bijl
Noe Sendas

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