Norbert Bisky, Grit Hachmeister

 

Paintings, sculptures and works on paper
01-12-2018 - 12-01-2019
Opening: Saturday 1 December between 16:00 - 18:00
Rotterdam, both rooms

NORBERT BISKY & GROT HACHMEISTER

 

BOEZEMVRIEND

 

Friendships are fragile by nature, as is the human condition. In their first collaborative show, Bisky and Hachmeister explore how far the boundaries of the self may expand into foreign territory, at times getting lost in transition, at times arriving in new and unexpected places.
 
On a cursory reading the two artistic positions presented here could not be more different: while Bisky’s polished and meticulously implemented paintings, and works on paper reveal their darker layers of meanings only at a second glance, Hachmeister’s objects and drawings appear endearingly imperfect, flawed, fragmented or misplaced.
 
The disciplining of gendered bodies, ranging from the banal to the grotesque, is a shared subject both artists chose to examine in their own unique visual vocabulary. The perfectly sculpted physiques of Bisky’s helplessly falling figures enter into a dialogue with Hachmeister’s ceramic sculptures’ depicting gym equipment, displaying at the same time the strenuous labour applied in the subjection to normative ideals as well as their ultimate futility.
 
The two artists first met during Bisky’s guest professorship at the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK), where Hachmeister had received a BS PROJECT scholarship. An intensive mentorship ensued, cumulating into a close artistic friendship. Bisky, whose close ties to Cokkie Snoei reach back to 2004, invited Hachmeister to a joint presentation of their works at the gallery.
 
The current show was conceived explicitly as a collaborative effort, reflected also by the arrangements of the works in the exhibition space. An even deeper level of amalgamation was realized in a series collaborative collages, one of which is exclusively available as a limited-edition poster. In the process of creation, both artists have been sending photographs of the canvasses back and forth, each adding layers and pieces, as well as erasing, appropriating and reinterpreting the work of the respective other.
 
The uncompromising and seemingly disrespectful handling of each other’s artistic output forms the strong basis of this creative friendship: the openness to endure the others interventions, the confidence to leave allegedly safe paths and the willingness to rethink and question existing and functioning systems of representation.

 

Diana Weis

 

Tropical Convection
2018
oil/canvas
170 cm x 130 cm
Worship Tropicale
2018
oil/canvas
170 cm x 130 cm
Boezemvriend
2018
oil/canvas
150 cm x 100 cm
Gayracula
2018
oil/canvas
40 cm x 30 cm
Rascal
2018
collage + oil/canvas + mirror
40 cm x 30 cm x 4,5 cm
Berlin Sunday
2018
oil/paper
50 cm x 64 cm
Leeway
2018
oil/paper
64 cm x 50 cm
Campfire
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Community service
2018
oil/paper
30 cm x 40 cm
Planemo 17
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Planemo IV
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Planemo VII
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Planemo VI
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Tremo
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Paragone
2018
oil/paper
24 cm x 32 cm
Frisson II
2018
oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
available
Homoflage
2018
collage + oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Risco
2018
collage + oil/paper
40 cm x 30 cm
Where I am is safe and warm (dumbbell tree with 12 fist dumbbells)
2018
zellan, pigment, glitter, wax an
120 cm x 76 cm x 30 cm
available
Hard Softie III
2018
papermaché, varnish, pigment, wo
135 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm
available
Hard Softie I
2018
ceramics, textile, wood and meta
65 cm x 50 cm x 45 cm
available
Hard Softie II
2018
ceramics, textile, wood and meta
65 cm x 50 cm x 45 cm
available
Der Finger
2018
ceramics/mirror
21 cm x 21 cm x 34 cm
available
Kleines Fäustchen
2018
ceramics, mirror, metal, wood
60 cm x 60 cm x 45 cm
available
Morris Cat
2018
acrylic + charcoal/canvas
150 cm x 170 cm
available
Puffy
2018
acrylic + charcoal/canvas
180 cm x 140 cm
available
Desert Hearts
2018
acrylic/canvas
60 cm x 45 cm
available
Man
2018
acrylic + ink/canvas
71 cm x 55 cm
available
I believe I can fly
2018
acrylic + charcoal/canvas
120 cm x 120 cm
available
Homeboy
2018
c-print (3)
50 cm x 36 cm
available
My body
2004
ink + felt-tip + pen/paper
21 cm x 15 cm
Untitled (on the hill)
2004
ink + felt-tip + pen/paper
21 cm x 15 cm
available
Untitled (boy with mask)
2004
ink + felt-tip + pen/paper
21 cm x 15 cm
available
Das Bein
2004
ink /paper
15 cm x 21 cm
available
Girl, held
2004
ink /paper
15 cm x 21 cm
available
Hello Goodbye
2004
ink /paper
21 cm x 15 cm
available
Untitled (woman with owl)
2004
ink + crayon/paper
21 cm x 15 cm
available
Untitled (man in abduction pants)
2004
ink /paper
21 cm x 15 cm
available
Untitled
2018
acrylic/canvas
80 cm x 60 cm
available