Dear Friends, we are delighted to invite you to the opening of ON THE ROAD, organized in collaboration with the Dutch artist Bram Braam
parallel with the exhibition FREE SPACE (FOR UKR), an initiative in support of Ukraine
We are looking forward to seeing you at the opening event (3G):
Saturday, 19.03 2022, 6 — 9pm
Keep wearing a mouth-and-nose mask and take care!
19.03 — 16.04 2022
Open hours: THU — SAT, 3 — 6PM
Also open by chance and by appointment
March 12, 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of writer Jack Kerouac. His non-fiction novel On the Road was written in the aftermath of World War II and is based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America in search of free communities and spiritual and artistic experiences. The story is about the struggle to maintain freedom while rejecting domestic and economic conformity. It is considered part of the beat movement, an American social and literary movement that emerged in the 1950s and was centred around bohemian artist communities. For the Beats, it is the journey, not the arrival, that matters. Kerouac’s story also reveals the hunger of a new generation for experiences that are exuberant and alive, but equally the decay of places and the gradual loss of youth. On the Road has been described by critics as the search for ultimate fulfilment before the sun goes down. However, and in the light of recent events, the road is not always a place of choice, the wanderer is not always free.
The exhibition On the Road is about the constant changes we go through, the evolution of the cities and landscapes that surround us and the experiences we have when travelling to new places. It is about loss, transience, the ongoing cycle of life and death, but also about the search for and need for freedom. The exhibition brings together a group of seven artists who each relate to this travel in their own way, either through references to the constant change of cities, landscapes and the cosmos or through sculptures that reflect the influences of humankind. The works tell stories of destruction, decay, and future visions using playful interventions with materials such as wood, lead, metal, steel and paint. Presented together, the works comment on our current reality and past events, bridging what has passed while at the same time sketching possible future scenarios. In this context, the artworks present narratives of movement and transformation that question the common ways in which we perceive social structures, architecture, landscape and mobility.
Claudia Mann lives and works in Düsseldorf and Korschenbroich. In her work she repeatedly challenges the essence and limits of sculptures. Solo exhibitions include MMK Museum Wörlen, Passau; MZKM Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst Moers; Gasthof Worringer Platz Düsseldorf; V8 Plattform für neue Kunst, Karlsruhe; Kunstverein Krefeld, among others. She participated in numerous group shows including PSM Gallery, Berlin; Dr Dormagen Guffanti Stiftung, Köln; Flottmann- Hallen Herne; Kunstraum Fuhrwerkswaage, Köln; Galerie Judith Andreae, Bonn; Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf; Kunstraum Düsseldorf and many more. She has been a receiver of various grant and stipends among others: Dr. Dormagen Guffanti grant, Cologne; Work grant Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn; Sculpture grant by Diakonie Michaelshofen Cologne; Grant for visual arts of the city of Düsseldorf.
Frank Ammerlaan lives and works in Berlin. After the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Ammerlaan followed an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2012 in London and won the Painting Degree Show studio award. Solo exhibitions include: Wolvecampprijs, Dordrecht Museum; Simões de Assis Gallery, São Paulo; David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen; Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam. Group shows include: Kunsthal, Rotterdam; Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht; Bienal de Curitiba, Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Brasil; Drawing Room, London; White Cube Gallery, London.
The mixing of different worlds, playful interventions and commentaries on everyday reality are the main themes in the work of Dutch artist Hester Oerlemans. Leaving no medium unexploited, she consistently shows a perception of the world around her which is both poetic and critical. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions including EUR Gallery, Rotterdam; Collectie De Groen Arnhem; CEAC, Xiamen; Studio Omstand Arnhem; Haus der Kunst, München; Museum De Pont, Tilburg; nationalmuseum, Berlin; Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam. Her work is in various public collections such as Collectie De Groen, Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Museum for Modern Art Arnhem, Rijnstate as well as numerous private collections.
Marc Bijl, lives and works in Berlin. His works combine political activity and street culture using image, text and music. He has had solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including the Groninger Museum; Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; DA2, Salamanca, among others. Bijl has participated in various group exhibitions including those held at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven; Rijksmuseum Twenthe; Groninger Museum; Cobra Museum Amstelveen; Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin. The artist’s work is in numerous public collections internationally, including Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Collection MUSAC, Collection Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, among others.
The expansive painting installations of Rutger de Vries diverge in both geometric visual language and more organic, fanning painterly surfaces that draw upon the dynamics of seemingly contradictory actions of expression and concealment. He has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions including Re:Search:Gallery (NP3), Groningen; De Voorkamer, Amsterdam; De Cacaofabriek, Helmond; Mini Galerie, Rotterdam; N&C Showrooms, London, among others.
Bram Braam’s art practice focus on sculptural and spatial based installations. He investigates our experience of time and space, the construction of our environment and our perception of this reality. He has exhibited internationally at venues including Galerie Burster Berlin; N.B.K. Berlin; Galerie Frank Taal Rotterdam; Another space, Kopenhagen; Import Projects, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Den Bosch; Seelevel Gallery, Amsterdam; Freies Museum Berlin. In 2014 Braam was awarded a one-year scholarship by the Berlin Senat and has won the Jung-Art prize Berlin in 2011.
Natalia Stachon, born in Katowice, Poland and lives and works in Berlin. Previous exhibitions include LOOCK Galerie, Berlin; Project space Brunnenstrasse 22, Berlin; LAGE EGAL, Berlin; Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich; Christine König Galerie, Vienna; Daimler Art Collection, Berlin. Her works is in public and private collections such as Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; Sammlung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland für zeitgenössische Kunst, Bonn; Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Berlin; ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe; Daimler Kunstsammlung, Berlin/Stuttgart.
