DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY - Clemens Krauss 'Like Memory Works'

CLEMENS KRAUSS

LIKE MEMORY WORKS 21.11. – 22.12.2013

Information Social hyper-complexity in contemporary times cannot be simply illustrated without resulting in one-sidedness. Clemens Krauss tries to open spaces, which allow approaches to the vulnerabilities of the individual in social, political and cultural contexts. As an artist he sees himself in the position of active participation, while significations and conclusions may remain in the beholders’ sphere of responsibility.

The series ‘Concept of Isolation’ deals with society and its predetermined breaking points and how one is able to handle that. The physical interaction takes place at different levels, exchange can happen emotionally or archaic. Like dreams or memories, the imagery is constituted freely associated. A kind of knowledge pool is formed by sexy zealots, remorse and superegos, a little homunculus indicates a potential 'It', a 'stab-in-the-back' metaphorically refers to the legendary dagger, a both society-forming and cleaving moment.

In the series ‘Remaining Silent’ the viewer is confronted with forms, which directly derivate from the niches of the famous Buddhastatues, busted by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. It turns out that symbols are not linked to physical conditions – the focus lies in the interaction between the individual and their destroyed surroundings.

The video ‘ER’, a collaboration with renowned German film director Benjamin Heisenberg, has more biographical connotations. Own film material, which the artist has shot in his earliest teenage years, has been reassembled to a story of a fictitious, peculiar character known only as ‘ER’ (He). A computer-generated voice relates this boy’s history, who grows up in a rural environment near the GermanAustrian border and blackmails his parents with outbursts of rage and simulated epileptic fits.

In the video-work ‘The Taster’ an old lady is filmed while eating. Margot Wölk, born 1917 in Berlin, was obligated to taste the meals of Adolf Hitler for possible poisoning in the final years of World War II. She is known as the last living testimony of this kind of apparatus.

The video shows her during an action that is both existential and intimate and bizarre - regarding her duty as Hitler’s food-taster.

Having been exhibited extensively internationally (Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Vienna, Tel Aviv and Los Angeles to mention a few), Austrian born and Berlion based Krauss also has a long standing relationship with Sydney: The residency at the Artspace Visual Art Center in Wooloomooloo in 2007 and the remarkable presentation of his work “Large Self Portrait” at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2009 as well as an artist in residency in 2011 at the National Art School in Sydney. This is Krauss fourth solo exhibition in Sydney.

Curriculum Vitae Clemens Krauss

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

1979

born in Graz, Austria

Education MA Fine Art, Central St. Martins College of Art and Design / London, UK Fine Art, Academy of Fine Art / Berlin, Germany

Please see the prestigious ARTFACTS ranking above and here on Clemens Krauss: ARTFACTS Very strong and positive over the last 5 years!

Solo shows (selection) 2013

Like Memory Works, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Australia Spielraum, Galerie Laura Marsiaj, Rio de Janeiro

2012

Transference Room, Kulturhuset Stockholm / Stockholm Clemens, Museo de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhaes / Recife Concepts of Isolation, Wooyoungmi Artspace, Seoul, Korea

2011

‘Subtitles and other forebodings’, DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY, Sydney. Australia ER (with Benjamin von Heisenberg), Kunstburo Wien

2010

‘Ein Alltag’, DNA, Berlin, Germany

2009

‚Large Self-Portrait’, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney ’Waking up’ Haus am Waldsee – Berlin ‚In Situ’, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney

2008

’A Shift and a Change’, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney Display, Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil SESC Paulista, Sao Paulo

2007

Chromosomes, Berlinische Galerie / Berlin, Deutschland Kontinuitäten, Kunstverein Augsburg / Augsburg, Germany (catalogue) 21 + 4 Bodies, S.M.A.K – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst / Ghent, Belgium Vestiges of Political Bodies, ARCO Madrid, project booth DNA, Berlin Madrid, Spain

2006

Body Mission - A slow display, Déak Erika Galéria / Budapest, Hungary A Space, DNA / Berlin, Germany (catalogue)

2005

new works, DNA / Berlin, Germany

2004

identicals, Gallery white / Villach, Austria The Bodybody-Problem, Gallery Kunst & Handel / Graz, Austria

2003

Part of a slow Self-portrait, DNA / Berlin, Germany (catalogue) toponymics – renaming the main square of Graz / Graz, Austria (European Capital of Culture 2003)

Group shows (selection) 2013

De Leur Temps, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France Eröffnung, Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin, Germany Bienal Internacional de Curitiba, Curitiba, Brazil Modern Families, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland Berlin Status, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany Videonale, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany

2012

I AM A BERLINER, Tel Aviv Museum / Tel Aviv Beyond Time - International Video Art Today, Kulturhuset Stockholm / Stockholm Alptraum, Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011

Artistas, Galeria Filomena Soares / Lisboa 1st Biennale of Painting - I am a Berliner, HDLU / Zagreb Kunstkörperlich-Körperkünstlich 3, bodies, Kunsthalle / Osnabrück ALPTRAUM!, The company / Los Angeles ALPTRAUM! / Washington D.C., London, Berlin, L.A. ALPTRAUM NIGHTMARE / Artist project Washington, London, Berlin, L.A., Cape Town Cell project space / London Private 1. Floor, DNA / Berlin Monte Verità, Kunstverein Familie Montez / Frankfurt PLUS 1 GROUP SHOW, Dominik Mersch Gallery / Sydney Verschwende deine Jugend, Wendt + Friedmann Galerie / Berlin

2010

Selected by Patrick Huber/Ute Lindner, Galerie Patrick Ebensperger / Berlin, Germany Surface Tension, Pacific Design Center / Los Angeles, USA It´s not easy being green, Kunsthaus Muerz / Mürzzuschag, Austria Transfer Berlin, Berlinische Galerie / Berlin, Germany Reflection, DNA / Berlin, Germany

2009

Contemporary hang, AGNSW, Sydney, Australia Museum Abtei Liesborn Vienna Art Fair

2007

AUS DEM 21. JAHRHUNDERT – NEUERWERBUNGEN, Berlinische Galerie / Berlin, Germany (catalogue) Ob ich das Sehe, Heidelberger Kunstverein / Germany (catalogue) VISÕES BERLINENSES, curated by T. de Arruda, Museu Paço das Artes / São Paulo, Brazil

2006

ANSTOSS BERLIN – Kunst macht Welt, curated by K. Blomberg und S. Bartelsheim, Haus am Waldsee / Berlin, Germany (catalogue) THE YOUTH OF TODAY, curated by M. Ulrich, Schirn Kunsthalle / Frankfurt, Deutschland (Katalog) 2nd International Biennial for Contemporary Art / Shumen, Bulgaria

2005

Rethink Freud – On the Pleasure of the Organic, booth art.es Magazin/ Art Basel Miami, USA Unwetter hosts NGBK – NGBK hosts Unwetter, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, 2. Berliner Kunstsalon / Berlin, Germany (catalogue) austrias, curated by R. Nachtigäller, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn / Nordhorn, Germany (catalogue) Der Freie Wille, curated by N. und T. Römer, Arena / Berlin, Germany (catalogue) Come to Light, Cell Project Space / London, UK (catalogue)

2004

I’d like to look like my look-alike, performance, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK All about Berlin, Kulturfabrik WhiteBox / Munich, Germany consultation hour, Performance (with Unwetter), Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart / Berlin, Germany consultation hour, Performance (with Unwetter), Liverpool Biennial / Liverpool, UK

Public collections (selection) Berlinische Galerie Berlin States Museum for Modern Art / Berlin, Germany Stadtische Galerie Nordhorn Honart Museum / Teheran, Iran Kadist Art Foundation, Paris Fatima Maleki, Tate Trustees / London, UK Cell – Project Space, London/UK Amigos do Serralves Museu de Arte Contemporânea/ Porto, Portugal MAM, Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo, Brasil

WORKS IN EXHIBITION

‘Memory Agony’, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Memory Agony’ (Details), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Memory Agony’ (Details), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Memory Agony’ (Details), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Memory Agony’ (Details), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Meconium Twittering’, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Meconium Twittering’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Meconium Twittering’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

‘Greed for Rage’, 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Greed for Rage’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Greed for Rage’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Greed for Rage’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Greed for Rage’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Greed for Rage’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Stab of Conscience in the Back’, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 90 cm

‘Stab of Conscience in the Back’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 90 cm

‘Stab of Conscience in the Back’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 90 cm

‘Erotic Zealotics’, 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Erotic Zealotics’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Erotic Zealotics’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Erotic Zealotics’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 140 cm

‘Before Sunset’, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 90 cm

‘Before Sunset’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas,140 x 90 cm

‘Before Sunset’ (Detail), 2012, oil on canvas,140 x 90 cm

'Remaining Silent 1', 2013, acrylic on board, 24 x 30 cm

'Remaining Silent 2', 2013, acrylic on board, 24 x 30 cm

'Remaining Silent 3', 2013, acrylic on board, 30 x 24 cm

'Remaining Silent 4', 2013, acrylic on board, 18 x 13 cm

'Remaining Silent 5', 2013, acrylic on board, 13 x 18 cm

'Remaining Silent 6', 2013, acrylic on board, 24 x 30 cm

'Remaining Silent 7’, 2013, acrylic on board, 13 x 18 cm

‘The Taster’, 2013, HD-Video, sound, 2:40min, Ed: 5/+2AP

‘ER’, 2011, Video 8 transferred to DV, 5:50min, Ed: 6/+4AP