BERLIN.- Michael Janssen Gallery is currently presenting "LET’S MIX!", a group exhibition featuring the works of nine internationally- renowned and emerging artists: Louis Cameron (USA), Yafeng Duan (CN), Margret Eicher (DE), Klaus Liebig (DE), Gulnur Mukazhanova (KAZ), Iabadiou Piko (ID), Christoph Steinmeyer (DE), Monique van Genderen (USA) and Yonamine (AO).
"LET’S MIX!" presents a dynamic exploration of the varied themes, styles, and materials in contemporary art. The exhibition brings together artists with distinct aesthetic perspectives, while celebrating the collective experience of the art world. Each artist showcases their unique style and approach to art making, highlighting their own personal histories and indi- vidual cultural contexts.
Gulnur Mukazhanova delves into Kazakh society and post-nomadic identities. By exploring visual practices developed in nomadic communities, the artist strikes a balance between traditional and digital techniques using ancestral felting techniques from the region. In contrast to her hand-felted textiles, Margret Eicher creates digital tapestries that explore the glamorization of celebrities and their commodification as icons in our collective unconscious. Eicher‘s work comments on mass production through industrial printing, while Christoph Steinmeyer challenges the fundamental notion of originality in art with his neo-surrealist paintings, sparking conceptual debates about the value of reproduction.
Louis Cameron‘s captivating collage paintings serve as a visual diary of Berlin, interpreted through the lens of the artist‘s Afro-American heritage. In contrast, the self-taught artist Yonamine creates multimedia installations that dynamically fuse figurative and abstract elements to explore post-colonial African art and political nonconformity, showcasing an unconventional approach to contemporary art. Iabadiou Piko, another self-taught artist, draws inspiration from his envi- ronment, expressing his unique perspective through a rich visual language that evokes intense emotions and reaches the pinnacle of creativity. His work offers an alternative outlook on abstraction, reflecting the inseparable connection between art and life, both in Indonesia and beyond.
Yafeng Duan explores the world of objective sensibility in abstraction, capturing the ethereal patterns of Qi in her abstract landscapes. Her art is infused with a gentle exploration of dichotomic ideas that are detached from contemporary narra- tives, demonstrating its soulful quality. Monique van Genderen, on the other hand, experiments with scale, format, and materials in search of the human in abstraction. Her vibrant landscapes establish an intimate connection between the work and observer, redefining the notion of spectacle.
Klaus Liebig‘s engagement with nature is reflected in his unique visual language that blends landscape elements with abstract forms. His multi-level storytelling approach creates an interplay between surface and depth, seamlessly blending the present and past, real and imagined, and conscious and unconscious.
Despite their diverse artistic practices and techniques, the exhibition highlights the artists‘ commonalities, exploring the boundaries between abstraction and realism, academia and self-taught practices, and philosophy and politics. Each work retains its distinct style while simultaneously combining and intersecting with others, creating a vibrant and dynamic tapestry of artistic expression.
2 June–30 June 2023
