Daheim. In his recent paintings, the letters Crux Australis become the montage word, a composite mosaic unit or basic textual node. A common reference to finding true south, the term also underlies the undecidable or slippery character of true and south.
daheim (at home) is the title of Christopher Snee's first solo
exhibition at Gitte Weise Galerie, Berlin.
In his recent paintings, the letters CRUX AUSTRALIS become the
montage word, a composite mosaic unit or basic textual node.
Crux astronomically is the Southern Cross, Crux Australis. A common
reference to finding true south, the term also underlies the
undecidable or slippery character of true and south. Like the terms
here or I - known in linguistics as shifters - they rely critically
on context for their meaning. Whether it is Snee's point here or not,
one cannot help but consider a possible sub-text: the political
dramas unfolding in Australia in the early years of the millennium -
the issue of asylum for refugees for example not the least resonant -
the crux of the matter also comes to mean not only the decisive
point, but also a point of perplexing difficulty.
Snee places importance in the origin of his chosen words as well as
the associations we make with his painted variants. In his hands they
are composed or invented, inverted or reversed, repeated and
concealed, or simply isolated. He uses graphic space as a structural
agent in his works. The painted text becomes a way of staging reading
as a visual constellation, where the meaning of words and letters
behave spatially like ideograms. The viewer-reader intuitively
searches for configurations that might organise the letters.
Likewise he makes us see words as well as read them. (Reading the
volume and making the volume readable). We look at their significance
and content as well as their form. Unlike conventional linear
progression in prose - which also determines our lockstep
conventional way of thinking - he plays fast and loose with surface
meaning revealing intriguing textual undertows.
Snee's breakdown of the semiotic premises of language and painting
activates both the body and the mind's encounter with these quizzical
works. Words cease to be transparent, as letters combine, reverse, or
overlay, to create potent semantic slippages.
Opening Friday 27th February 6 - 9 pm
Gitte Weise Gallery
Tucholskystrasse 47 - Berlin
free admission