ARTISTS
Potential Colour
Galerie Max Hetzler, London, is pleased to present Potential Colour, a group exhibition of works by Darren Almond, Glenn Brown, Andr茅 Butzer, G眉nther F枚rg, Hans Josephsohn, KAWS, Albert Oehlen, Edmund de Waal, Rebecca Warren, Grace Weaver and Toby Ziegler. Taking grey as its starting point, the exhibition explores the gradations of this nuanced shade, from black to white and the space in-between.
At once transparent and opaque, grey hovers at the threshold between reality and representation, absence and presence, past and present. Contained within its veiled contours is the potentiality of all colour. Dissolving white and black, grey is a tool for erasure or overpainting, for blotting out or leaving ghostly traces; yet it also serves to articulate passages and mould forms. This exhibition focuses on the ambiguity and evanescent nature of the monochrome palette as one that is comprised simultaneously of every hue and none.
A visceral surge of colour erupts from the grey expanse of Andr茅 Butzer鈥檚 (b. 1973) La Chasse (Mis en Bouteille au Ch芒teau), 2011. The image is a poignant example of the artist鈥檚 pursuit of the colour grey, which he begun with his pivotal work M枚rder in 1999, continued in the 鈥楬aselnuss鈥� series in 2003, and culminated with his initial 鈥楴-Paintings鈥� (2010鈥�2012). 鈥楪rey,鈥� Butzer has stated, 鈥榠s the great potency of all colours, the destination of colour.鈥� 1 As the concentrated sum of chromaticity itself, grey becomes a site where all colour is latently stored.
Such hints of colour are encapsulated in the 鈥楪rey Paintings鈥� of G眉nther F枚rg (1952鈥�2013), initiated in 1973. Gesturally dense, the grey negates any sense of representational allusion, yet at the same time, the works appear porous, with glimmers of light seeping through the crosshatching. Inspired by Edvard Munch, this latticework simultaneously highlights F枚rg鈥檚 lifelong engagement with architecture and the Modernist grid. In his own 鈥楪rey Paintings鈥�, initiated in 1997, Albert Oehlen (b. 1954) plays with the abstract / figurative divide, as faces and forms appear to shift into focus from an ostensibly non-representational sea of grey. In Student II, 1997, the ghostly head of a woman emerges from a densely painted ground, subverting expectations. Of these works, the artist has described a desire 鈥榯o artificially heighten the lust for colour鈥�.2
The raw, unfired clay that Rebecca Warren (b. 1965) has been using in her work since 1998 dries a very pale grey, slightly bluish or yellow depending on the light. Her sculpture Some Mothers Of Invention 1, 2013, is an ensemble of strange ambiguity. In its entirety, it is cartoonishly phallic with its intermediary MDF trapezoid collar covered in clay which has dripped over its edges, and below that a rosy pink plinth. The rotund clay form has, in its concise modelling, an exaggerated likeness to a nut or buxom derri猫re: aloof in its grey grandeur, it is ample, grave and amusing.
This shifting of form is encapsulated by Darren Almond (b. 1971) in his new body of 鈥楻ag Paintings鈥�. Originating from photographs taken by Almond of Lucian Freud鈥檚 London studio, the works take inspiration from the paint-stained rags which Freud used to wipe his brushes on 鈥� a constant material presence in a painter鈥檚 daily practice. Bearing ethereal traces of the painted canvas, such discarded remnants become tangible records of the creative act. Modes of translation similarly operate in Toby Ziegler鈥檚 (b. 1972) practice. In Emotional Defrag, 2015, he digitally-manipulates an original source image before rendering it in oil paint on aluminium, to create an ambiguous pictorial space. Removing areas of paint with an electric sander, Ziegler reveals passages of the metal beneath, in a push and pull of creation and negation. In Edmund de Waal鈥檚 (b. 1964) pure white vitrine, a house full of music, II, 2023, the artist encompasses the simplicity and harmony of the monochrome. The rhythmically arranged composition is punctuated with glimmers of silver, imbuing the work with a pearlescent glow.
The drawn line comes to the fore in UNTITLED, 2015, by KAWS (b. 1974). Working in grey acrylic on white paper, the artist portrays Snoopy from Charles M. Schulz鈥檚 comic strip, Peanuts. Enlarging the linework almost beyond recognition, KAWS abstracts and overlays the original, replacing the cartoon character鈥檚 eyes with his signature 鈥榅鈥� motif, as he hints towards its ubiquity in the collective consciousness. In new work by Grace Weaver (b. 1989), the artist similarly conjures her protagonist through a series of reductive, sweeping lines. Painting wet-on-wet on a washy ground, Weaver draws from early Greek imagery of mourners to portray a woman with hands raised theatrically above her head. Balancing abstraction and figuration in Untitled (Ruth), 1963, Hans Josephsohn (1920鈥�2012) presents a standing nude figure rendered in brass, which captures something of the raw essence of the human form. Revealing traces of the artist鈥檚 hand, the sculpture鈥檚 tactile surface and varied patina evoke geological formations in colour, texture and scale as it shifts through deep charcoal and umber to golden, light-filled hues.
In his aptly titled painting, The Untitled, 2024, Glenn Brown (b. 1966) explores notions of absence and aura. Beneath an androgynous, Jesus-like figure, is an empty grey rectangle: suggestive of an epitaph left blank, it awaits praise or judgement from the viewer. In contrast to the artist鈥檚 usual vivid palette, the work is painted entirely in grisaille, emphasising each delicate swirl and whorl that together forms his enigmatic subject.
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Galerie Max Hetzler, London, is pleased to present Potential Colour, a group exhibition of works by Darren Almond, Glenn Brown, Andr茅 Butzer, G眉nther F枚rg, Hans Josephsohn, KAWS, Albert Oehlen, Edmund de Waal, Rebecca Warren, Grace Weaver and Toby Ziegler. Taking grey as its starting point, the exhibition explores the gradations of this nuanced shade, from black to white and the space in-between.
At once transparent and opaque, grey hovers at the threshold between reality and representation, absence and presence, past and present. Contained within its veiled contours is the potentiality of all colour. Dissolving white and black, grey is a tool for erasure or overpainting, for blotting out or leaving ghostly traces; yet it also serves to articulate passages and mould forms. This exhibition focuses on the ambiguity and evanescent nature of the monochrome palette as one that is comprised simultaneously of every hue and none.
A visceral surge of colour erupts from the grey expanse of Andr茅 Butzer鈥檚 (b. 1973) La Chasse (Mis en Bouteille au Ch芒teau), 2011. The image is a poignant example of the artist鈥檚 pursuit of the colour grey, which he begun with his pivotal work M枚rder in 1999, continued in the 鈥楬aselnuss鈥� series in 2003, and culminated with his initial 鈥楴-Paintings鈥� (2010鈥�2012). 鈥楪rey,鈥� Butzer has stated, 鈥榠s the great potency of all colours, the destination of colour.鈥� 1 As the concentrated sum of chromaticity itself, grey becomes a site where all colour is latently stored.
Such hints of colour are encapsulated in the 鈥楪rey Paintings鈥� of G眉nther F枚rg (1952鈥�2013), initiated in 1973. Gesturally dense, the grey negates any sense of representational allusion, yet at the same time, the works appear porous, with glimmers of light seeping through the crosshatching. Inspired by Edvard Munch, this latticework simultaneously highlights F枚rg鈥檚 lifelong engagement with architecture and the Modernist grid. In his own 鈥楪rey Paintings鈥�, initiated in 1997, Albert Oehlen (b. 1954) plays with the abstract / figurative divide, as faces and forms appear to shift into focus from an ostensibly non-representational sea of grey. In Student II, 1997, the ghostly head of a woman emerges from a densely painted ground, subverting expectations. Of these works, the artist has described a desire 鈥榯o artificially heighten the lust for colour鈥�.2
The raw, unfired clay that Rebecca Warren (b. 1965) has been using in her work since 1998 dries a very pale grey, slightly bluish or yellow depending on the light. Her sculpture Some Mothers Of Invention 1, 2013, is an ensemble of strange ambiguity. In its entirety, it is cartoonishly phallic with its intermediary MDF trapezoid collar covered in clay which has dripped over its edges, and below that a rosy pink plinth. The rotund clay form has, in its concise modelling, an exaggerated likeness to a nut or buxom derri猫re: aloof in its grey grandeur, it is ample, grave and amusing.
This shifting of form is encapsulated by Darren Almond (b. 1971) in his new body of 鈥楻ag Paintings鈥�. Originating from photographs taken by Almond of Lucian Freud鈥檚 London studio, the works take inspiration from the paint-stained rags which Freud used to wipe his brushes on 鈥� a constant material presence in a painter鈥檚 daily practice. Bearing ethereal traces of the painted canvas, such discarded remnants become tangible records of the creative act. Modes of translation similarly operate in Toby Ziegler鈥檚 (b. 1972) practice. In Emotional Defrag, 2015, he digitally-manipulates an original source image before rendering it in oil paint on aluminium, to create an ambiguous pictorial space. Removing areas of paint with an electric sander, Ziegler reveals passages of the metal beneath, in a push and pull of creation and negation. In Edmund de Waal鈥檚 (b. 1964) pure white vitrine, a house full of music, II, 2023, the artist encompasses the simplicity and harmony of the monochrome. The rhythmically arranged composition is punctuated with glimmers of silver, imbuing the work with a pearlescent glow.
The drawn line comes to the fore in UNTITLED, 2015, by KAWS (b. 1974). Working in grey acrylic on white paper, the artist portrays Snoopy from Charles M. Schulz鈥檚 comic strip, Peanuts. Enlarging the linework almost beyond recognition, KAWS abstracts and overlays the original, replacing the cartoon character鈥檚 eyes with his signature 鈥榅鈥� motif, as he hints towards its ubiquity in the collective consciousness. In new work by Grace Weaver (b. 1989), the artist similarly conjures her protagonist through a series of reductive, sweeping lines. Painting wet-on-wet on a washy ground, Weaver draws from early Greek imagery of mourners to portray a woman with hands raised theatrically above her head. Balancing abstraction and figuration in Untitled (Ruth), 1963, Hans Josephsohn (1920鈥�2012) presents a standing nude figure rendered in brass, which captures something of the raw essence of the human form. Revealing traces of the artist鈥檚 hand, the sculpture鈥檚 tactile surface and varied patina evoke geological formations in colour, texture and scale as it shifts through deep charcoal and umber to golden, light-filled hues.
In his aptly titled painting, The Untitled, 2024, Glenn Brown (b. 1966) explores notions of absence and aura. Beneath an androgynous, Jesus-like figure, is an empty grey rectangle: suggestive of an epitaph left blank, it awaits praise or judgement from the viewer. In contrast to the artist鈥檚 usual vivid palette, the work is painted entirely in grisaille, emphasising each delicate swirl and whorl that together forms his enigmatic subject.
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