The paintings and drawings included in the show expand on the artist's well-established vocabulary of images, which often convey alternative ideas about social order and gender concerns. Eisenman's visual fantasies are expert in exposing the flaws of the modern life. The show also delves into the grotesque in the guise of satire and caricature.
A Show Called Nowhere
Galerie Barbara Weiss is pleased to present works by the American artist
Nicole Eisenman. It is her first solo exhibit in Germany. The paintings
and drawings included here expand on Eisenman's well-established
vocabulary of images, which often convey alternative ideas about social
order and gender concerns. Taking her cues from Pre-Renaissance and
Expressionist movements in art history, Eisenman's visual fantasies are
expert in exposing the flaws of the modern life. The show also delves
into the grotesque in the guise of satire and caricature.
In two large canvases, /Mining I/ and /Mining II,/ Eisenman's
multi-figure paintings show mostly women, contoured nudes of orgiastic
color loosely dispersed in a pre-industrial landscape, ostensibly mining
beneath the surface of the earth for paint. The women survey the land,
mill and prepare mixtures, and generally do the man's work - a common
theme in Eisenman's work - and occasionally loll in the grass. Life
flows gently and evenly in these paintings, and there is an observation
of nature that recalls the post-Impressionist and Expressionist interest
in the superiority of the primitive and utopian vs. urban decay. With
Eisenman's work, that dichotomy is between an existing male reality and
a proposed female alternative. In a third large canvas, "Big Fat Wave
and Finding Pink" the ocean appears to overwhelm a solitary female
figure walking along the shoreline populated by a lone lump of paint. As
if seen from slightly above, the painting has a spiritual reverberation.
In contrast to the paintings shown in Eisenman's exhibitions before,
these works show a more sculptural quality.
Thematically, Eisenman returns to allegorical territory in two paintings
entitled /Crushing Spirit Three By Three/ and /Ball and Chain/. Eisenman
uses the canvas to depict familiar proverbial expressions such as
"banging your head against the wall" and "ball and chain," and which
relate to familiar Eisenman motifs about the art world and art school.
These paintings, like 16th century Flemish proverb paintings, make
sardonic reference to the often foolish culture they are witness to,
thereby cautioning the viewer to consider their relationship to that
culture.
In a series of mixed media portraits, Eisenman applies a cartoon-like
style of flat-noses and square jaws to evoke the mood and personality of
specific and imaginary heads, and to call attention to her role as the
artist. In each painting, one portion of the canvas is covered with a
bright yellow and black sticker the artist had mass-printed, based on
the "How's My Driving?" bumper stickers that taunt motorists.
Eisenman's vivid imagination is evidenced in a group of highly detailed
ink drawings, including /Hintertail Werkstatt /A natural extension of
Eisenman's interest in the body, the drawings have a darkly comic
quality that delves into both free-association and the comic grotesque.
Misshapen imaginary creatures and distorted humans engage in surrealist
encounters in street scenes and carnival-like atmospheres. In one sense,
the images in the pictures seem carried over from the dream-state; in
another sense, there is a mischievous disruption of order that is
palpable, as Eisenman's universe tilts into an uninhibited, joyous food
fight.
Elizabeth Saperstein
Exhibitions since 2001 (selection)
2002
Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica (solo)
2003
The Herbert F.
Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York (solo);
Lilly van der Stokker,
DC, Museum Ludwig, Cologne;
Sammlung Speck; K21, Kunstsammlung,
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf;
The Paper Sculpture Show, The Sculpture
Center, New York
2004
Elizaville, Leo Koenig Inc., New York (solo);
Central Station-The Harald Falckenberg Collection,
La Maison
Rouge-Foundation Antoine de Albert, Paris
2005
A La Pared/ On The Wall,
Museum De Arte Carrilo Gil, San Angel, Mexico
Current exhibitions
2005 Mural project, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;
Urban
Stories, Reina Sofia, Madrid
Opening: May 6, 6-10 pm
Galerie Barbara Weiss
Zimmerstrasse 88/89 - Berlin
Opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am - 6 pm