Cuts into the Heart and Eyes

In this exhibition, the works by Franz Gertsch (exhibition spaces number 1 and 2) meet up with younger artistic positions: Christiane Baumgartner presents her monumental woodcuts in the exhibition spaces number 3 and 4, while Philipp Hennevogl shows linocuts in the cabinet.

Christiane Baumgartner

In her first solo exhibition in Switzerland, Christiane Baumgartner (born 1967) presents woodcuts from the past six years, including her most recent works, which are being shown for the first time in the German-speaking region. Her uninhabited depictions and narrative series of pictures showing highways, freeways, military aircraft, helicopters or wind wheels deal with speed and technical progress. Nature as influenced by human civilization is present on the roadside and in symbol-laden forest scenes. Baumgartner translates the traditional print media for the present day here—her monumental woodcuts are usually based on her own videos. The artist selects stills, prepares them on the computer, transforming the digital data into parallel running lines which she subsequently carves into the wood printing block. Because of the horizontal grid of lines, the woodcut seems to flicker when looked at and the scene that has been brought to a standstill appears to be moving once again. The occupation with human perception, with sharpness and blurriness in addition to fundamental questions pertaining to the nature of time and the image are essential aspects of Baumgartner’s work.

Baumgartner studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig as well as the Royal College of Art in London. The internationally renowned artist lives and works in Leipzig.

Philipp Hennevogl

The German artist Philipp Hennevogl (born 1968) shows his recent and most current linocuts from 2007 to 2011 in the Cabinet. Realistic landscapes, close-up urban scaffolding structures, interiors marked by present-day information technology and still life-like accumulations of civilization's waste products evidence a motival and graphic concentration. Hennevogl is a very meticulous observer of his surroundings who captures striking elements and details from present-day Berlin and elsewhere with his camera. The artist usually translates the motifs’ forms into linear structures in his linocuts that fascinate the viewer with their virtuoso ornaments.

Hennevogl studied fine art at the University of Kassel. He received the Culture Advancement Award from the city of Würzburg in 2009 and won the 2010/2011 Mainz City Printer Prize. The artist lives and works in Berlin.

Catalogues:

- "Christiane Baumgartner. Reel Time", ed. by Alan Cristea Gallery, London, 58 pp., CHF 48.-

- "Cuts into the Heart and Eyes. Philipp Hennevogl", ed. by Anna Wesle, 32 pp., CHF 25.-