Ghosts, gates, spills, and a fog machine
MIM GALLERY
2636 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
www.mim.gallery
424.298.8223
GHOSTS, GATES, SPILLS, AND A FOG MACHINE
Annette Weisser
March 26–April 23, 2016
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11–6 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 26, 6–9 pm
On Saturday, April 2, 4–6 pm, Annette Weisser will discuss her recently published artist book MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE (Berlin: The Green Box, 2015) with Chris Kraus and Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer.
MIM Gallery is pleased to present GHOSTS, GATES, SPILLS, AND A FOG MACHINE, a solo exhibition by Berlin and Los Angeles-based artist Annette Weisser. This is the artist’s first show at MIM Gallery. Annette Weisser’s artistic work of recent years asks how specific historical constellations leave a lasting mark on attitudes and approaches to life without, however, being fully reflected upon or articulated. Her work is a self-inquiry regarding her political socialization in West-Germany in the 1980s, as well as the enduring influence of National Socialism on German society. Weisser embarks on “terrain vague,” insecure ground, in order to research subjective impressions and to test the connection to socially effective forces. Her main medium is large format woodcut, a medium that the artist partly picked because of its proverbial Holzschnitthaftigkeit: a way of thinking grounded in stark dichotomies of black and white, “wrong” and “right”. However, in the serie from 2015 presented here, the medium appears suspended and tips towards the painterly – the strong convictions give way to a more introspective mood. Right at the start of the exhibition we encounter a girl pulling a sheep mask off her face, although the large ears stay firmly attached to the head. The sheep motif is, among other things, a reference to the film “Not Reconciled or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules” by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, according to Weisser the best film about the post-war era in West-Germany ever made. Another recurring motif in her work is that of the young girl playing the recorder as an allegory for a particular brand of virtousness. In the installation “Inga, Kathrin, Judith, Kristin” presented in this show, four visibly used recorders are positioned in space at angles suggesting invisible players of various heights. Instead of being activated through the mouth piece, the instruments are hooked to a fog machine, exuding puffs of smoke at regular intervalls.
An opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 26, 6–9 pm.
For more information, please contact MIM Gallery at 424.299.8223 or info@mim.gallery.