Once in a blue moon

Henrik Eiben, Joachim Grommek, Inge Krause, Franziska Reinbothe, Anna Virnich, Beat Zoderer, Hamburg
09.02.2024 - 18.05.2024

The group exhibition Once in a blue moon revolves around the theme of abstract painting. Beat Zoderer's large-format work Trapezium No. 7, 2021 (acrylic on MDF, 180 x 200 cm) forms the starting point of the exhibition, while a second work by the artist, a painted multi-layered honeycomb cardboard (Scheibenbild No. 1/08, 2008) opens up the space into the third dimension. Henrik Eiben's sculptural objects continue this movement and focus on different material structures and the optical-haptic qualities of surfaces.

The artists Inge Krause, Franziska Reinbothe and Anna Virnich, on the other hand, pursue "painting by other means". Here, it is no longer the acrylic or oil paint that is the material substance that leads to the picture; instead, foils and fabrics provide color, depth and surface structure. Krause thinks of the picture as a staggering of color spaces in which transparency and light reflections play a key role. Reinbothe is concerned with the process of image creation itself, with experimentation and the question: What actually happens when...? Virnich mixes "contaminated materials" (old clothes, tights, curtains, blankets) with new technoid fabrics and textiles from the high fashion sector.

Joachim Grommek's paintings are usually not recognized as such at first glance. His trompe-l'oeils are irritating in their supposed "artlessness", which repeatedly tempts viewers to want to peel off a piece of the vividly painted strips of Sellotape.