Red Fish Factory

Christoph Broich's 'Voluptuous Panic' at Benedengalerie, Kortrijk

exhibition 10/10/08 till 16/11/08 - from Friday through Sunday 2 pm - 5 pm
Benedengalerie van De Kortrijkse Schouwburg, Hazelaarstraat 7, 8500 Kortrijk (Courtrai)

 

TAATTII . THE APPEARANCE AND THE THING ITSELF
envoy visits Griesmar&Tamer
10 January 2008 - 16 Fenruary 2008 . Tue thru Sat 11-6

Envoy is happy to announce its visit to Griesmar&Tamer gallery, with a group show and five solo exhibitions that are curated around the theme of the appearance and the thing in itself.

TAATTII is the abbreviation for “The Appearance And The Thing In Itself.” It is a playful reference to TATI, Schopenhauer's comments on Kant's philosophy and the way art (the thing in itself) is interpreted (appearance).
"As it appears" and "In itself" are two ways of looking at "art." In six rooms, a play on the appearance and the thing itself is played out.

In the first room , named Arthur, each artist represented by envoy, is presented with a piece that was created in response to one of five provided quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer.
The second room Darling Companion presents sister exhibitions by James J. Williams III, What Does Darling Mean to Your? and As They Appear Upon Dissection. The works in Darling are studies in relationship power struggles, sadism, healing through bleeding, loving, fucking, and losing our everything. Dissection is the addendum to Darling. It is mourning. It is clear and concise and gilded and black and empties itself as sacrifice to something or someone bigger.
In Rafi, the third room, Raphaël Neal skillfully introduces the uncanny—whether it is an unexpected criminality or a haunting presence—into the mundane everyday and its subtly shifting perspectives. It‘s a direct account of youthful lives unfolding against a rugged landscape in which a strange tenderness is being omitted. Neal is a subtle observer of the ebb and flow of desire and its influence on the sexual dynamics flowing between people.
The fourth room, named Nothing, contains Michael Yinger’s installation "all I know is that I don't know nothin’,” a personalized map of the United States, a summary of everything in one that is about all the trials and tribulations, intense over-analyzing and complete inventory of a persons core being.
The work of Donatien Veismann occupies the fifth room, named Tomato-Ketchup Emperor. The name of the room refers to the 1970 Shuji Terayama movie "Emperor Tomato-Ketchup," in which children take over the power and turn the world into a huge dictatorship. It also refers to the artist’s obsession with Ronald McDonald, the Ketchup clown who, in the artist’s opinion, crystallizes many things: both ideal and scary he is a modern icon, a philosopher with a spider smile ,the symbol of consumption society, ...
Voloptuous Panic is the sixth and last room. Inspired by Weimar bacchanalia, (the title is taken from Mel Gordon's book on Weimar Berlin,) Christoph Broich‘s curious manipulated, sculpted elements populate a weirdly decadent environment. Suspended from the ceiling and spatially isolated through perspectival techniques, Broich’s skinned sculptures focus on deterioration and present the reversal of the natural process: skin and flesh decomposing first and the skeleton remaining.

Now that you have been fed the appearance, it is up to you to look at the things in itself.

 

Christoph Broich 'Voluptuous Panic'
5 July thru 4 August 2007 Tue thru Sat 11-6
envoy . 131 Chrystie Street . New York . NY 10002 . 212.226.4555 . www.envoygallery.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can enlarge the pictures on Christophs own blog http://broichblog.redfishfactory.com/

 

5 July thru 4 August 2007 Tue thru Sat 11-6

Over the past two years, Christoph Broich has received international attention with sculptural installations that have come to stand for a willful sensitivity to the body and mortality. His work is a manifestation of the complex and unquiet correlation between life and work, material and concept.

In his Kopf (Head) series, the artist successfully expands his visual vocabulary by creating a cohesive environment around a single element, the head. Cut up iconic items of clothing and fabric are collaged onto busts and then painted with several coats of latex. Upon completion, as with all of Broich’s meticulously made sculptures, the bust is destroyed and the shell (skin) is all that remains. Broich’s skinned sculptures focus on deterioration and present the reversal of the natural process: skin and flesh decomposing first and the skeleton remaining. Suspended from the ceiling, the heads create an eerie field of beheaded individuals.

Inspired by Weimar bacchanalia, his most recent work, Voluptuous Panic (the title is taken from Mel Gordon's book on Weimar Berlin), invites the viewer to become part of the action. Understanding the importance of absence as well as presence in the deployment of his sculpted elements within a real space, Broich proves to be a master at orchestration and placement.

Spatially isolated through perspectival techniques, curious manipulated, cast characters populate the weirdly decadent environment. The choice of mannequins, empty, non-threatening 'everyone' figures is deliberate, its effect one of alienation.

Choreographed single and multiple groups of characters, seated or lying on the counter of a bar or nightclub, are enmeshed in an emotional confrontation with an unspecified narrative. At one end of the counter, a protagonist’s Siamese body curves back in spontaneous recoil. Each posture and gesture suggesting urgency and concern, tension and empathy. At the other end, a figure leans forward, as if wanting to move out of the drama, but its inability to move seems to frustrate the desire to act. All of the characters in Voluptuous Panic sustain a bland look. They stare into emptiness as they lean on enigmatic moments frozen in space and time, a singular, inexplicable silent moment.

 

Christoph Broich was born in Stadt Blankenberg, Germany. He graduated from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium in 1994. The artist had his first exhibition at envoy with “Never Mind The Bollocks: Here’s Amanda Lear,” in April 2006. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York. (text: Enoy)

 

Lara, wo bist du, a video and performance project that started in 1993 will be featured at Unisex Salon at the Delancey on July 5th. Check http://envoy.typepad.com/ for details.

 

envoy . 131 Chrystie Street . New York . NY 10002 . 212.226.4555 . www.envoygallery.com