MARCO DEN BREEMS
DUNCAN HANNAH
MIRJAM JACOB
HANS LEMMEN
YURI RODEKIN
MARLIZ FRENCKEN
JULIUS HOFMANN
JAN KNAP
ROSA LOY
Ornis A. Gallery is proud to present the spring exhibition Personalities on Paper II with various artists of the gallery.
History starts with writing they say. But the first evidence of human records is cave art. Depictions of animals such as mammoths, rhinos and lions appears on rock surfaces. Little children can’t speak properly but they can draw what surrounds them. Of course in a very naïf manner. It seems as if from the very first beginning in life the urge to capture the world is important. Drawing confirms who we are and by putting the world on paper, that moment will survive for future generations.
As we have seen, drawing is associated with our need for solace and the idyll. A safe haven for the soul which should be unattainable for the outside world. This utopia has the ability to offer healing conditions for what have wounded us. Our eyes are drawn in a fantasy of colours and lines. However, the intention of the artist, the universe from where the artwork is created, always remain unclear to us. This never ending distance gives us the ability to lay down our own feelings in the work. A single drawing can posses multiple stories which give meaning and happiness but also deafens and brings us into the realm of dreams. We try to hold grip on reality through this narcotic effect (here by art). But actually it becomes a much more fundamental issue here. Namely the unrequited desire for recognition, immortality and the understanding of nature. A world that has never really existed because the mind will always be subjective. Therefore, drawing can be seen as an expression of our deepest fears. But it also makes us wonder where we come from, what we are, where we going and ever since the first human beings it brings magic to the heart.
In this group exhibition nine artists of the gallery will be presented: the watercolours of Jan Knap (Czech-American, 1949) are drawn in his recognisable theme of the Holy Family and pastoral life. Marliz Frencken (Dutch, 1955) puts her drawings in an intimate setting by using the exhibition space as a boudoir. In this series all the works are released in blue. Rosa Loy (German, 1958) depicts womanhood in her drawings. The monochrome model drawings of female nudes is characteristic for the work of Duncan Hannah (American, 1952). Marco den Breems (Dutch, 1955) lives and works as his alter ego Ibrahim Bangali in Mali, Africa. He wants to bring back mysteries in our lives through his art. Miriam Jacob (German, 1983) and Julius Hofmann (German, 1983) use collage that gives their work an airy and playful touch. Hans Lemmen (Dutch, 1959) takes us into his alternative mythology and the imagination of the nature of the ‘human-animal’. He always work in a frame of 34 x 21 cm on paper pre-treated with casein. In the work of Yuri Rodekin (Russian, 1960) is a magical realist one full of feelings of loneliness and sadness caught in a poetic image.