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until 08.05. | #3041ARTatBerlin | In the first part of the exhibition series ‘Bei uns. Bei Euch! Ein künstlerisches Kontinuum Chemnitz/Berlin’ ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE currently presents works by the artist Via Lewandowsky.
Some furniture accompanies us throughout our lives and sometimes even for generations. Even if furnishings for life have become less important, individual chairs, tables or cabinets will still be associated with very different expectations in the future that have to do with memories, nostalgic reveries or simply appreciation of a time.
On the occasion of the exhibition “Bei uns.” (With us.), Via Lewandowsky brings a wall unit of the “Brocken” brand from the 1970s from East Germany to West Berlin in the Charlottenburg flat of Alexander Ochs Private’s gallery. Place and circumstances are carefully chosen and fit together perfectly.
On the one hand, Via Lewandowsky has been dealing with the abysses and tragicomic moments of domestic and family life for many years. On the other hand, it was the sudden death of Via Lewandowsky’s mother that led to the decision to integrate a central piece of furniture from her parents’ flat filled with memories and lived lives into the exhibition.
Via Lewandowsky, The Caring, 2021, Mixed Media, 265 x 251 x 46 cm,
Photo: Thomas Bruns, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
The almost original reconstruction entitled “Die Fürsorgliche” (The Caring) thus becomes part of the mourning process as a work of art. In the process, it reveals many private insights and exudes an almost oppressive authenticity.
Analogous to the work “Der Herzenmacher” (The Heart Maker) from 2015, in which Via Lewandowsky reconstructed and exhibited his deceased father’s workbench, the wall unit becomes an emblematic image of a particular life story, becomes the shrine of a changeable family life through frozen and overturning political times.
A counterpart to the wall unit as a life archive is found on the wall opposite in the form of pieces of parquet flooring from a Hamburg Wilhelminian villa, cut out and stacked in perspective. “Kniende Madonna mit Kind” (Madonna Kneeling with Child) from 2019 is a typical example of the deliberately confusing strands of interpretation in Via Lewandowsky’s works. Kneeling on a parquet floor, stacked into figures, Madonna and Child as a distorted perspective?
Via Lewandowsky, Madonna Kneeling With Child, 2019
Parquet floor from a late 19th century villa in Hamburg, 17 x 80 x 80 cm / 10 x 40 x 40 cm
Photo: Thomas Bruns, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
More straightforward is the work “Reinheit” (Purity), 2021. A house broom wrapped in a string of lights stands glowing in a corner of the room. The festively decorated broom could be a reference to the omnipresence of Christmas, as evident in the cupboard wall: Housework as a never-ending Christmas.
In the second room of the exhibition, several works join hands. Centrally placed on a round table are two black glass sculptures shaped like inflated household rubber gloves. “In guten Händen” (In Good hands), 2020 combines the opposites of disinfectant gloves inflated for fun and their distancing protective function.
Via Lewandowsky, In Good Hands, 2021, Glass, laquer, 45 x 30 x 50 cm
Photo: Thomas Bruns, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
Next to it on a stool rocks a bent guitar “Das Ende vom Lied” (The End of the Story), 2018.
Via Lewandowsky, The End of the Story, 2016, acoustc guitar, bended, 80 x 35 x 15 cm
Photo: Via Lewandowsky, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
Gilded and de-fibred woodchip wallpaper “Goldene Schnitt/Bis zur letzten Faser” (Golden Sections/To the last fiber), as well as a small oil painting that has a burn hole from an iron “How to Iron an Abstract Painting” and two small object frames with fictitious found objects “Schmetterball des Origamimeisters” (Butterball of the Origami Master) and “Die Reinigung seiner C-Flöte ging ihm über alles” (The cleaning of his C Flute was above all else for him) complete the scene.
Via Lewandowsky, Golden Sections (To the Last Fiber) #4, 2020
Woodchip wallpaper gilded and defibered, 52,5 x 52,5 cm
Photo: Gunter Lepkowski, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
Via Lewandowsky, How to Iron an Abstract Painting, 2021, Oil on canvas, 32 x 32 cm
Photo: Thomas Bruns, Courtesy ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE
Everything is outshone by a luminous inscription that says nothing more and nothing less than “belanglos” (irrelevant) in handwriting. This should be taken seriously.
Supported by STIFTUNG KUNSTFONDS and NEUSTART KULTUR
The current Covid regulations apply. Please register for the exhibition visit at: ochs@alexanderochs-private.com or 0160 – 91 710 710.
Exhibition period: Thursday, 1st April – Saturday, 8th May 2021
To the Gallery
Exhibition Via Lewandowsky – ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
