Forest Hill, 2003 Acrylic on canvas, 59" x 75" Julia Weck Displayed Pressure Moti Hasson Gallery is pleased to present the New York debut of the artist, Julia Weck. Weck, who was born in Halle/Saale, is part of an emerging generation of painters that grew up in the former G.D.R. Weck is a student of both Neo Rauch and Arno Rink, however, as part a younger generation, she sets herself apart via herinterest in the cultural signifiers and behaviors of youth culture. Weck's acrylic on canvas paintings are populated by cool-kids wrestling and acting out, masterfully coupling tension between characters' physical actions with a formal tension in the paintings' compositions. She judiciously flattens certain surfaces of the painting while constructing depth in other areas, creating a push and pull between planes that mimic the back and forth between characters. Loose framing and the frequent appearance of flash lighting, suggest a basis in photography. Yet what seem to be spontaneous moments of reckless abandon are in fact carefully constructed mise en scènes. Weck's compositions are derived from a labored series of drawings and staged photographs that are then collaged and layered to create moments of unexpected tension. Colin Lang, an art historian who specializes in contemporary German art, writes about Weck: Instead of the painted surface acting as a screen for a convincing illusion of realistic figuration, it is the readymade image of photography that screens Weck's movement between the referential and self-referential operations of painting itself. And: As an alternative to the medium-fixated relationship between painting and photography, Weck's work summons a deeper and more disconcerting condition: the immanence of the image. These paintings locate and perform the desire to occupy the impossible position between painting as a gestural act and painting as a descriptive enterprise... It could even be argued that Weck's work gives form to parallax and, in so doing, unmasks the status of the image as a substitute reality. In this way, these paintings acknowledge the need to investigate at the surface level, where modernity is given its fullest expression.* Also in the exhibition are a series of paintings based on appropriated images from children's coloring books. Rebelling against these idylls, Weck superimposes her own dubious narratives, expressions of her playful manner and interest in mischievous oppositions. Julia Weck received her diploma in design and photography from Bauhaus University in Weimar, and is currently pursuing her graduate degree in painting at The Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. In 2005, she had her first solo exhibition in Leipzig at Gallery Laden für Nichts. Moti Hasson Gallery is pleased to present her New York debut in June of 2006. *Lang, Colin, "Surface Tension," Julia Weck (catalog), Moti Hasson Gallery, 2006. Exhibition: June 1 - July 15, 2006 Gallery hours: Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm or by appointment Moti Hasson Gallery 330 West 38th St. Suite 211 USA-New York, NY 10018 Telephone +1 212 268-4444 Fax +1 212 268-4944 Email info@motihasson.com www.motihasson.com |
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