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until 03.08. | #4331ARTatBerlin | Contemporary Fine Arts presents from 22nd June 2024 (Vernissage: 21st June) the exhibition Flugelhorns by the artist Ellen Berkenblit.
Contemporary Fine Arts presents Flugelhorns, the first solo-exhibition from Ellen Berkenblit in the gallery and the first of the artist in Germany.
On display are paintings and drawings featuring female figures that dominate much of the canvas, gazing not at the viewer but at something or someone within their own realm, the specifics of which remain obscure to us. The figures are never centered; instead, they are slightly off-balance, drawing attention only to deflect it. Cut out from their surroundings and cropped out of context, their emotional states become the main story.
Complex, innate emotions manifest through paint, while the relationships between characters shape the composition. Somewhat of a rarity for Berkenblit, the women are not entirely isolated from their stories but appear alongside others, and in addition to tigers, horses, and birds, one gets a glimpse of motherhood, sisterhood, friendship, or perhaps even its opposite; the dynamics of their relationships are contained within the expressive brushstrokes and muted colors.
For Berkenblit, the canvas is a world in which she strives for balance, but the laws by which balance occurs remain a mystery even to her. All shapes are born of lines that come together naturally – be it a tiger, a flower, a horse, or the notorious female figure, which she has been returning to throughout her career.
And yet, although these paintings feature figures, they possess abstract qualities that shift with the viewer’s distance. A nose transforms into a triangle, a cheek becomes a broad pink surface, and empty black space turns into a monochrome painting, resulting in a mutable visual language. “Visual” might be the wrong word, however, as the exhibition’s title and work titles such as Gramosound and Tigerton suggest an auditory aspect, and while paintings aren’t known for producing sounds, they can resonate; loudly.
Ellen Berkenblit was born in 1958 in Paterson, New Jersey. She currently lives and works in New York City. Her work has been exhibited across the USA, with her most recent solo exhibitions including Ellen Berkenblit: In Motion at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque (2023), Norton at the Anton Kern Gallery in New York (2023), Ellen Berkenblit: Other Shapes at Night at Vielmetter Los Angeles (2022), and Atrium Project: Ellen Berkenblit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2019). Berkenblit’s work is part of public collections at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 2014, she was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.
Vernissage: Friday, 21st June 2024 from 6 to 8 pm
Opening dates: Saturday, 22nd June until Saturday, 3rd August 2024
Image Caption Title: ELLEN BERKENBLIT “TIGERTON” 2023 OIL ON LINEN 190.5 X 152.4 CM EBE/M 10/00
Exhibition Ellen Berkenblit – CFA Berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst – Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
