ART
Jochen Gerner |
Written 30 January |
Saturday 12 September, 11:00Galerie Anne Barrault, 75003 [map]
For his second solo show at Gallery Anne Barrault,
Jochen Gerner presents a set of new works, the main theme of which is the four elements: earth, air, water, fire. Jochen Gerner uses and produces drawings on existing printed documents; picture postcards, book covers, cardboard packagings are all used.
For the series entitled “Panorama du feu” (a view of fire), about forty comic strip booklets dating from the 50s, 60s and 70s make up the basis of the project. By working directly on their covers with India ink and pictograms, Jochen Gerner allows a battle field at night to appear, streaked with firing and explosions. Through this process, he examines the aesthetics of comic strips during the cold war, when the threat of a conflict regularly pervaded the media of the time.
“Panorama du froid” (a view of cold) is a set of dozens of topographical postcards, dating from the sixties to now. By covering them with acrylic paint, Jochen Gerner redesigns the simple shapes of landscapes and buildings. With a range of white colours, the landscape disappears and is replaced by geometrical ice and expanses of icebergs. And not without a sense of humour, he presents his notebook entitled “Branchages” (branches), the pages of which were filled one by one, while he was on the phone, between 2002 and 2008.
In all of these works, the artist’s concern for “the infinite possibility of the links between what is written and image” is ever present.
