Strychnin Gallery Berlin - Daniël van Nes
On December 12th, 2008 the exhibition ‘Fallen Angels’ by Daniël van Nes opens at the Strychnin Gallery in Berlin.
Besides Daniël van Nes the exhibition also features Virginie Ropars, Marina Bychkova and Cliff Wallace.
The real replaced by the virtual, oversaturation through the media and the ever-present TV screens with marketing messages that seep into our lives and dreams not unlike religious slogans – these are the themes of Dutch artist Daniël van Nes’ new series of work. Playing with religious imagery and mixing it up with sub- and underground cultures, the characters in his work are angels expelled from the Garden who find themselves utterly alone in their fall. The works of special guest Virginie Ropars lie somewhere between sculpture, doll making, fashion design and illustration, building a dream-like reality featuring predominantly strong female characters. Cliff Wallace, who is largely responsible for the special effects of films such as Hellboy II, Mission: Impossible, Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down, will be showing sculptures of a different kind. Marina Bychkova is only 26 years old but already considered a shooting star among modern doll makers. Her dreamy, often naked and vulnerable figures have received numerous awards and are exhibited all over the world.
Daniël van Nes, who was educated at the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, originally was a painter. Looking for a challenge, he ended up making wood engravings using a centuries-old technique, and then decided to turn to a decidedly modern medium: plexiglass. The result of his meticulously crafted work – he often spends over a month working on a single piece of relatively small size – can only be seen by use of light. His technique has sometimes been described as “light engraving”. Using antique glass domes that were once used to store dried flowers or other memorabilia, he builds lamps that have a magical effect: you can only see the image they contain when you turn them on. His latest series of works is a collection of fallen and falling angels who lose their wings, one feather at a time or with one good jerk. Van Nes’ fascination with the dawn of the Industrial Age and how it changed society forever is reflected in imagery inspired by the Victorians but paired with machinery and strange apparatuses that could come straight out of a Jules Vernes story, a sort of futurism as imagined in the 19th century. His characters are trying to protect what is dear to them while slowly but surely losing hold of it, just as it is getting harder and harder to make out truth and reality in a world that is becoming more virtual every day. Advertising is the new religion, replacing meaning with empty slogans and religious icons with brand logos – van Nes’ work is about confession and absolution in a world where Gods and angels are replaced by marketing rules, his consumer criticism is hidden within ancient-looking frames and real antique containers.
Special guest Virginie Ropars is a French artist who, after getting a Master’s degree in graphic art, worked as a 2D/3D graphic artist for computer games and the TV cartoon industry. From “virtuality” to “reality”, working with her hands became vital for her in order to be connected with what she had in mind, finally leading her to sculpt dolls: Different materials are used to build a kind of reality as imagined in a dream. Her figures are predominantly strong women with an unbroken mind, a vision of a human nature bent on reaching a bright absolute, and at the same time capriciously rooted in dark ground.
Cliff Wallace is one of the driving forces behind the British company Creature Effects that is largely responsible for the look of such Hollywood movies as Hellboy II, Mission: Impossible or 28 Days Later. The “creatures” – a term he prefers using over “monsters” – he will be showing at Strychnin Gallery prove that he is just as much of a real artist outside the movie industry: his sculptures appear to come from a different, dark and hidden realm. Thematically, they are about such themes as wisdom, transience, age, and death.
Marina Bychkova was born in Siberia in 1982 and migrated to Canada with her family at the age of 14. She has been making dolls since she was 6 years old and considers it her calling in life. After receiving her degree in fine arts and additional education in jewellery-making and design, Bychkova is now exhibiting her dreamy and vulnerable creations internationally. Her special interest lies in exposing the dark and often threatening undertones often found in classic fairy tales.
Fallen Angels – Daniël van Nes
Featuring Virginie Ropars, Marina Bychkova and Cliff Wallace
Opening night: December 12th, 7 p.m.
Show runs until February 1st
Strychnin Gallery’s winter break: Dec. 22nd until Jan. 22nd !!
Opening times: Thu - Sun 1 p.m. until 6 p.m.; Sat. until 7 p.m.
Strychnin Gallery Berlin
Boxhagenerstr. 36
10245 Berlin
http://www.strychnin.com
