Gregor Hildebrandt
Almine Rech Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Berlin artist Gregor Hildebrandt at its London space, and the artist鈥檚 fifth solo with the gallery. The show is comprised of new canvases, photographs, works in granite and sculptures.
In wei脽en Str盲u脽en lie脽 den Duft der Sterne schneien, which lends the exhibition its title, is a small photograph depicting an out-of-focus reflection of an opulent flower bouquet in a narrow vase, reflected in a canvas covered with black VHS tape ribbon. The title comes from the German translation of Apparition, an 1862 poem by the symbolist poet St茅phane Mallarm茅, that offers a yearning description of an evening encounter and ends with the words "Neiger de blancs bouquets d'茅toiles parfum茅es" ["Snow-white clusters of perfumed stars"]. Music, which plays a central role in Hildebrandt鈥檚 practice, is as disembodied as the fragrance of the stars, caught in white bouquets. Music is especially connected to his paintings. Here, the artist records a chosen piece of music on cassette tape ribbon which he then glues onto canvas, using the data storage medium as an artistic medium, thereby reducing it to its very surface. Although formally reduced and rigorous, Hildebrandt鈥檚 works are nonetheless charged and personal in terms of content. Paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations refer not just to selections of music, but also to texts, films, and motifs from art history and popular culture that have influenced or inspired him. Only Der wei脽e Spiegel turns the viewer back on him/herself. Hildebrandt left the tape empty and viewers see merely themselves in the strongly reflective surface, filling the empty space through their own imaginations. Elsewhere in his pieces, artwork titles may reveal a specific reference and offer the beholders of the abstract, seemingly hermetic works, a means of access to the work鈥檚 content.
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Almine Rech Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Berlin artist Gregor Hildebrandt at its London space, and the artist鈥檚 fifth solo with the gallery. The show is comprised of new canvases, photographs, works in granite and sculptures.
In wei脽en Str盲u脽en lie脽 den Duft der Sterne schneien, which lends the exhibition its title, is a small photograph depicting an out-of-focus reflection of an opulent flower bouquet in a narrow vase, reflected in a canvas covered with black VHS tape ribbon. The title comes from the German translation of Apparition, an 1862 poem by the symbolist poet St茅phane Mallarm茅, that offers a yearning description of an evening encounter and ends with the words "Neiger de blancs bouquets d'茅toiles parfum茅es" ["Snow-white clusters of perfumed stars"]. Music, which plays a central role in Hildebrandt鈥檚 practice, is as disembodied as the fragrance of the stars, caught in white bouquets. Music is especially connected to his paintings. Here, the artist records a chosen piece of music on cassette tape ribbon which he then glues onto canvas, using the data storage medium as an artistic medium, thereby reducing it to its very surface. Although formally reduced and rigorous, Hildebrandt鈥檚 works are nonetheless charged and personal in terms of content. Paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations refer not just to selections of music, but also to texts, films, and motifs from art history and popular culture that have influenced or inspired him. Only Der wei脽e Spiegel turns the viewer back on him/herself. Hildebrandt left the tape empty and viewers see merely themselves in the strongly reflective surface, filling the empty space through their own imaginations. Elsewhere in his pieces, artwork titles may reveal a specific reference and offer the beholders of the abstract, seemingly hermetic works, a means of access to the work鈥檚 content.
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