GlogauAIR Open Studios Juni 2012

OPEN STUDIOS 29-30 JUNE

GLOGAUAIR glogauerstr. 16, Berlin

GlogauAIR In 2006 the Spanish artist Chema Alvargonzález (1960-2009) founded GlogauAIR in Berlin Kreuzberg. Its mission was to create a platform for artistic production generated in a frame of multidisciplinary dialog, collaboration and exchange.

GlogauAIR is a non profit organization focused in an Artist in Residence Programme for international artists that come to stay and work in Berlin for three or six months.

Every three months the current artists in residence open their studios to present recently developed projects in a “work in progress” situation.

Project Space In occasion of the current Open Studios exhibition GlogauAIR is inviting the show We Can Draw It! curated by Carolina Jiménez.

The show presents Greek contemporary artists who have chosen black and white drawing on paper as their main experimental technique. The selected artists coincide in creating fantastic sceneries and conjuring imaginary worlds.

Furthermore we have invited the artist Tizo All from Brazil, who presents his performance “Solo – Site Specific” on Friday, the 29th of June at 9 p.m.

With the collaboration we want to open a dialogue between our regular activity of the Artist in Residence Program and other curatorial initiatives, offering an experimental space for artistic discourse and cultural production, connecting GlogauAIR to the international art scene and the city of Berlin.

OPEN STUDIOS current artists

invited projectS:

Megan Cotts (USA)

performance by

Grace Kim (USA)

Tizo All (BR)

Yi Kyung Cho (KR) Guillermo Lorca (CL)

we can draw it!

José Moñú (ES)

CURATED BY:

Rebeca Smith (AU)

Carolina Jiménez (ES)

Kazue Taguchi (JP)

ARTISTS:

Cheng Ting Ting (TW)

Filippos Kavakas (GR)

Yuki Yamamoto (JP)

Dionisis Kavallieratos (GR)

Liang Yuan Wei (CN)

Angela Liosi (GR) Sifis Lykakis (GR) Diamantis Sotiropoulos

We Can Draw It! (…) A grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing.

An ant passed by. “Why not come and chat with me?”, said the grasshopper. “I am helping to lay up food for the winter”, said the ant. “Why bother about winter?”, said the grasshopper, “we have plenty of food at present”. When the winter came the grasshopper had no food while the ant had the grain collected in the summer.

The Ant and the Grasshopper. Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.)

In the current socio-political context an exhibition text referring to five Greek artists based in Berlin could easily become a political statement. The apple of a curator’s eye... But we are not going to do that (and not because we are not passionate about politics, that we are) because We Can Draw It! “simply” wants to claim drawing as a statement, where Greek artists and friends, Filippos Kavakas, Dionisis Kavallieratos, Angela Liosi, Sifis Lykakis and Diamantis Sotiropoulos show recent black and white drawings on paper. The scale of the presented works oscillates from the medium to the massive, according to their need. All pieces are stunning, full of light and darkness, liberating motion and intimacy that can make drawing the visual equivalent of thinking out loud.

Contemplating the work of the five artists, we can comprehend their similar education in the Greek Fine Arts Schools and its tradition in drawing and knowledge of technique. We can also infer a Greek look (if, in any case, a Greek look can be inferred). We Can Draw It! is not an exhibition about Greece, but about Greece since all of the artists are Greek. It is not about technique, but about technique, because although technique is not the main goal, it is the medium to depict a horizon, sometimes ironic, sometimes hypnotic, sometimes bucolic but always stimulating and reflective of human relations, power, art, religion, sex, mythology or philosophy. Even if the drawings’ imaginery is quite diverse, they all share an impulse: the art explored in this exhibition is not sealed inside the realms of aesthetics and theory but refers to the languages of the life around us, telling stories, creating scenarios and conjuring imagined worlds.

Carolina Jiménez

Mondrian vs Malevich 2012. Ink on paper. 37 x 29 cm

FILIPPOS KAVAKAS Athens, Greece (1979)

The Ghost Of Postmodernism 2012. Ink on paper. 29 x 37 cm

The Old Bordello On The Hill Of Sold Souls 2009. Oil charcoal on paper, 35 x 51cm Courtesy Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens

DIONISIS KAVALLIERATOS Athens, Greece (1979)

The Back Side Of The Old Bordello 2009. Oil charcoal on paper. 21 x 31 cm Courtesy Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens

There Is No Escape II 2011. Pencil on paper. 35 x 50 cm

ANGELA LIOSI

Athens, Greece (1980)

And If You Think You Like Me Living Baby, You Gonna Love Me When I Am Dead 2011. Pencil on paper. 35 x 50 cm

Hot Spot 2010. Graphite and charcoal on paper.

70 x 100 cm

SIFIS LYKAKIS

Athens, Greece (1977)

Paradox 2011. Graphite and charcoal on paper.

80 x 120 cm

DIAMANTIS SOTIROPOULOS Athens, Greece (1978)

Happiness (diptych) 2010. Ink on paper. 130 X 160 cm each Courtesy upstairs berlin Gallery, Berlin

TIZO ALL Brazil, 1982 Solo - site specific, is a continuous personal process about the experimentation with the body and its relationship with the space.

Different spaces create different answers and reactions. My performance work Solo is the arrival of the body in the space to stimulate a creative communication between both. To encourage this dialog I use personal portraits of myself as symbols of my identity located in the room. A central element of the work is the light, which will help creating an atmosphere and to sublimate the space.

Contemporary Art in progress, in a constant change. Body in process. Life in Art. “Art-Life“ . Contemporary Body in Life.

ECU, video still/installation

MEGAN COTTS USA, 1979 Megan Cotts works primarily in site specific video and installation, exploring the meaning of everyday objects by creating a visual sphere that challenges the mundane and the rational.

She prefers to begin with the object out of context, in its “resting position”, and negotiate its representation and history from there.

In searching to redirect the gaze, she provides a space in which to consider the object’s lack of any true meaning. By directing attention to the object “in use” and “in absence”, she uncovers the possibilities offered by representation.

Cotts is one of three collaborators in D3, an artist run service specializing in helping people part with emotionally burdensome objects that have outlived their welcome (see: www.dthree.org).

Her current project is titled Honeycomb, after a form originally used by a decorative paper company and later adopted by the aerospace industry. Her research has brought her to Berlin, the site of the original paper factory.

78 Beds, 4 Chandeliers: The two most rented props in Hollywood.

Video projection

Glogauer str.16 Berlin on 16 April 2012

YI KYUNG CHO Korea, 1976 I have always wondered why a projected image is exhibited mostly in a dark room or black box. Why not in a white cube?

An image projected in a white cube, as opposed to a black box, would be less clear and at times even invisible, disappearing completely. Viewers see this ‘imperfect’ image in a white cube and experience something different from what they generally see in a black box. In this setting, viewers can perceive the image in a new form - one that stimulates a different set of nerve responses - and thus potentially inhabit a new space for reflection.

An important point regarding image projection is that the medium - the flow of light transmitted from a projector - exists and yet the projected image partially disappears to the naked eye. I see this situation as that of viewers perceiving ‘no image’ despite the fact an image does exist. I call this “de-creation”.

Recently I have attempted to make works that invite an audience to come inside the work instead of just standing in front of it to observe. This is meant to simulate how we really exist in the world, i.e. not just standing in front of it. We don’t exist in front of a painting but exist in the same space with the painting.

Glogauer str.16 Berlin, on 8 April 2012

Everness. Still frame. 2012

GRACE KIM USA, 1976 Dimensions of the Real, explored through juxtaposition of image, sound, space and time-echo the layers through which we filter our individual realities. This unique yet collective process mirrors my interest in how reality is constructed through personal illusions of perception; how the present is like water, slipping through our fingers; how quantum studies bring us closer now than ever before, to the acknowledgement of parallel realities; and the belief that time’s linearity is nothing more than a human construct. In Buddhist philosophy the journey of life is seen as an endless circle of time, cause and effect, decay and renewal. My work regards the journey as a metaphor for the human condition, reflecting its dualities, and treading between physical and conscious reality. As Bill Hicks once said, “All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration and we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.”

Everness. Still frame. 2012

El evento. Oil on canvas, 130x220 cms

GUILLERMO LORCA Chile, 1984 The protagonists of Lorca’s paintings are always in a state of tension. There is a constant confrontation between physical and symbolic limits of the human being. He uses them metaphorically to speak about the perspectives of childhood and adolescence.

Like the author Bruno Bettelheim in his Psychoanalysis of the fairytales, Lorca’s approaches the symbology of Hansel and Gretel through his oil paintings. He creates sceneries in which he shows how candy and cookies generate joy in children.

The original story becomes a vehicle for telling, not only the children’s desire of pleasure, but to explain the dark intentions of the witch.

Even if the main purpose of fairy-tales has always been to teach young generations on moral issues, the adult aspects such as the carnal impulse have always been hidden between their lines. Lorca approaches the desire without moralization.

Guillermo Lorca’s painting translates themes that prowl the conscience of particular human being to express universal matters of hour society.

Hilario Galguera

Casita de dulces. Oil on canvas,160x300 cms

JOSÉ MOÑU Spain, 1981 www.galeriafernandolatorre.com

Birds. 100x100 cm. 2011

Feuerzeug. 100x100 cm. 2012

La cerveza tenĂ­a ojos. 100x100 cm. 2012

Navajazo en el cuello. 100x100 cm. 2012

REBECCA SMITH Australia, 1985 Rebecca Smith is an emerging artist based in Brisbane, Australia. She graduated from the Queensland College of Art with First Class Honours in Photography in 2009. “I am interested in creating series of images where the meaning of each photograph is constructed by its relationship to the group as a whole. While the images remain autonomous, their meaning relies on their place within a larger structure, like elements in a procedure where the outcome is greater than the sum of its parts. In the language of alchemy, magic and folklore, certain objects and substances are also considered to be invested with a symbolic power that exists beyond their intended function. My work is structured around this idea, where each photographed object is one component of a ritual or spell�.

KAZUE TAGUCHI Japan, 1975 In my current work I experiment with reflective material and light. When light hits the surface, a complex interplay of reflections and shadows are created.

Light is intangible and invisible, but its effect on our lives is deep. My interest in creating works with light is to experience the phenomenon of their visual qualities as well as in the creation of a relaxing and sublime space.

Jo vull aprendre Mallorqui, Addaya Art Centre, 2011

CHENG TING TING Taiwan/UK, 1985 As a Taiwanese artist living in Europe, Ting-Ting Cheng is interested in the fluctuant identities and the sensitive relationship/ interaction between foreignness and locality, examining our reactions to different cultures. In her video, photography and installations, she applies language as the symbol of culture and identity, investigating the transformation of messages in communications.

Cheng graduated from MA Photographic Studies at University of Westminster, London. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including solo shows at Taipei Fine Art Museum, Addaya Art Centre (Mallorca) and Kiállítás Elött Galéria (Budapest), as well as group shows in III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, London Art Fair, Foto Madrid, Nord Art (Germany), Tokyo Frontline, ISE Cultural Foundation (New York)… etc. Recently, She was selected for one of the artists in 40 under 40 by Perspective magazine in Hong Kong as well as Taipei Art Award. Her works are in the collection of Taipei Fine Art Museum, Addaya Art Centre and private collectors worldwide.

During the residency in GlogauAIR, Cheng is working on the project “It’s fine, you can talk to me”. She intends to transform the language barrier between immigrants and local residents into a positive force. She invited local residents to share a secret with her in German, the language that she cannot understand, and then documented the process in videos. In this case, the secrets still remain hidden because of the language barrier. The person who cannot understand one’s language becomes the person that one can trust. She constructed a different yet ambiguous relationship with the participants.

Japanese Books, (from the series “I judge a book by its cover�), 2010

24 Nov 2011, 17:41, Highbury & Islington station (on Victoria Line), London The Times (34 pages) Cameron told to chosse between EU and the City

Involuntary Reader, 2012

YUKI YAMAMOTO Japan, 1981 In my work I try to express my most personal feelings in an abstract language.

I use structures of my daily life to combine and find a balance between things that are constantly in change, like internet or pop culture, and other elements that are stable and often invisible.

The paintings are built up with ten transparent layers of acrylic painting. I search small spaces, simple and colorful forms that are blend together creating a surface where the forms become less and less clear.

Like truth itself I create a mixture between comfort and uncertainty. I feel inspired by the great painters of the past who were able to discover the truth through their works.

Through the Glass. Oil on linen, 95x65cm x 3 pieces. 2011

LIANG YUAN WEI China, 1977 I have chosen flowers as a pattern and oil paint as a medium because both have been used and developed as concepts in so many ways.

Each canvas is completed in horizontal strips using a meticulous process requiring time-management, focus and control.

Once started, the painting cannot be abandoned until a single strip is completed.

In my recent diptych series, each panel is a gradient: The color of the lower halves is essentially the same for both canvases while the upper segments are somehow reversed. In turn, the floral motifs are carved into the thick layer of oil paint, creating an empty space that is then filled in with color. The resulting two different surfaces of the panels appear to be covered with the same piece of fabric but being changed by a different source of light.

While I predominantly work on painting, my work spans also includes installation or studies of found objects.

Pomegrante Lipstick on the paper. 21x21cm x 50 pieces. 2011.

Pomegrante Lipstick on the paper. 21x21cm x 50 pieces. 2011.

This catalogue, in an edition of 1000, appeared on occasion of the GlogauAIR Open Studios show of June 2930th, 2012.

Edited by Cristina León, Fátima Montero, Luís Alhama.

Graphic design Álvaro Martínez-Alonso GlogauAIR Glogauer Straße 16 10999 Berlin +49 (0) 30 6122275 info@glogauair.net www.glogauair.net

Supported by:

CONTACT Tizo All foradecena@gmail.com Megan Cotts megancotts@gmail.com megancotts.com Yi Kyung Cho blue_cho@yahoo.com entopicgroup.com/paginas/cho1. html Carolina Jiménez caroljiva@gmail.com Filippos Kavakas filipposkavakas@hotmail.com Dionisis Kavallieratos dionisiskavallieratos@hotmail.com Grace Kim grace@grace-kim.com grace-kim.com Angela Liosi angelio29@hotmail.com Guillermo Lorca guillermolorca@gmail.com guillermolorca.com Sifis Lykasis seefees@hotmail.com sifislykakis.blogspot.de

José Moñú bigotesideral@hotmail.com galeriafernandolatorre.com Rebecca Smith hello@rebecca-smith.net rebecca-smith.net Diamantis Sotiropoulos diamondsoti@yahoo.gr www.upstairs-berlin.com/ artists/contemporary/ diamantis-sotiropoulos Kazue Taguchi kazuetaguchi@hotmail.com kazuetaguchi.com Cheng Ting Ting ting@chengtingting.com chengtingting.com Yuki Yamamoto originaltengoku@yahoo.co.jp www.geocities.jp/ yamamotopaintings Liang Yuan Wei liangyuanwei@gmail.com liangyuanwei.com

Megan Cotts Yi Kyung Cho Grace Kim Guillermo Lorca José Moñú Rebecca Smith Kazue Taguchi Cheng Ting Ting Yuki Yamamoto Liang Yuan Wei PROJECT SPACE Performance by Tizo All and We Can Draw It! curated by Carolina Jiménez with Filippos Kavakas Dionisis Kavallieratos Angela Liosi Sifis Lykakis Diamantis Sotiropoulos www.glogauair.net Glogauer Str. 16 10999. Berlin