STEFAN BRÜGGEMANN 'SOAP BOX (A DECORATIVE FORM OF NIHILISM)'

STEFAN BRÜGGEMANN
SOAP BOX
(A DECORATIVE FORM OF NIHILISM)
Curated by Aileen Corkery

12 January – 8 February 2008
Reception 11 January 6 – 8 pm

Kerlin Gallery is delighted to present the first Irish solo exhibition by London-based artist Stefan Brüggemann.

Stefan Brüggemann works extensively with language, having a very particular way of dealing with text, combining a formal conceptual approach with a rough and critical attitude. Brüggemann has been creating works of art that combine traditional conceptual strategies with a particular pop sensibility.

Frequently extracting references from the mass media (advertisements, music, fashion) and inserting them into contemporary art’s practice, Brüggemann assembles high and low culture, thus exposing the impossibility to distinguish one from another.

The artist works mainly with neon and vinyl, industrial media that have a primordial utilitarian function. However, a big part of his inspiration comes from vernacular contexts, revealing the endless possibilities to express deeper meanings than the apparently superficial ones perceived at a first glance.

Making use of the gallery’s depurate space, designed by the British architect John Pawson, the artist will produce a new work that simultaneously enhances its shape as it negates its minimalist architecture. This will be the central piece of the show at Kerlin Gallery, in which the artist develops a verbal game between meaning and representation, through the use of wallpaper in which a short phrase is repeatedly inserted in a paradoxical reflection between message and media. This work will form the base for the remaining works: paintings, neon and sculpture.

Stefan Brüggemann was born in 1975 in Mexico City and lives and works in London. Recent group exhibitions include: Shallow, curated by the artist with Pierre Bismuth, Malcolm McLaren and Martin Creed, I-20 Gallery, New York, 2007; Escultura Social: New Generation of Art from Mexico City, MCA, Chicago, 2007; Yes, Bruce Nauman, Zwirner & Wirth, New York, 2006; Nothing, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2006; Off-key, curated by Philipe Pirotte, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, 2006; and Beck’s Futures Award, ICA, London, 2006. His recent solo exhibitions include: Obliterations Series, Blow de La Barra, London, 2007; and No Content, 1-20 Gallery, New York, 2006. Forthcoming exhibitions and projects: a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern in February 2008 which includes a JRP Ringier publication with essays by Chris Kraus, Michael Bracewell and Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith ; writing and directing a feature film for late 2008; as well as working on a major art project, HOTEL HOTEL in Acapulco, Mexico.

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Anne’s Lane
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Dublin 2, Ireland
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