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Hans Hemmert
this preparation of readiness for keeping oneself open to the arrival or absence of the god

Exhibition Dates: September 7 – October 26, 2007
Opening Reception: September 7, 5-8 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10-6; Saturday, 11-5

Kavi Gupta Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Berlin-based artist Hans Hemmert who is well known for his philosophical investigations between ideas of space, physicality, religion and the presence and absence of being. The title of the exhibition emphasizes Hemmert’s ongoing interests in these subjects as it is borrowed from the famous Der Spiegel interview with Martin Heidegger from 1966. This latest exhibition will continue to represent the artist’s distinct visual language that is often characterized by his sense of humor and signature use of the color yellow. The show will include several yellow fiberglass sculptures, projected animations and drawings as well as a number of sculptures emphasizing new investigations with light and text.

Hans Hemmert has been exploring the physicality of space and being within his work since the creation of his well-known over-sized latex yellow balloons which he placed in architectural spaces molding a large void within a fragile membrane as well as his egg-shaped balloons in which he would insert himself heightening the body’s physical sense of space. The most recent work by Hemmert addresses the solidity of his forms and the juxtaposition of his disparate images through the use of fiberglass, and again, the bright yellow that is now in the form of a commercial high gloss varnish. His sculptures have literally become devotional objects as religious iconography is absorbed into contemporary consumer culture. A representation of John the Evangelist morphs together with a boom box – or a Porsche is adorned with a cross for a hood ornament.

Popular culture enters Hemmert’s work also through his video projections which involve a collage of video footage borrowed from sources that range from the artist’s personal footage to Japanese and German films and popular television shows like Sex in the City. These images are then embedded within one of Hemmert’s drawings which is then layered once more as it is projected onto a piece of paper on the wall – regenerating itself as a drawing within a layered projection of space and time. The project room of the gallery will also include a solitary work of a meticulously crafted paper replica of the Speyer Cathedral in which another one of Hemmert’s videos involving footage of Anna Karina dissected from a Godard film is placed within hand drawn images of the cathedral and projected back onto itself.

Hans Hemmert (b. 1960, lives and works in Berlin). A catalogue of Hans Hemmert’s latest work has just been produced for his solo show at Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Germany. Other recent solo exhibitions include shows at Carlier/Gebauer, Berlin; Galerie Frank, Paris; Institut für Moderne Kunst Nürnberg, Germany; Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein Berlin; and the Museum Folkwang Essen. Hemmert has also been included in numerous group exhibitions including Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen; Art Museum of Estonia; Prague Biennale 2; Art Unlimited at Art Basel and the ICA London.

For additional press information and available works please e-mail kristen@kavigupta.com

Hans Hemmert
drawings / animated video
Exhibition Dates: October 24 - December 31, 2003

0054/03/H.H.2003
graphite, ink on paper
16.5" x 11 .5"

Hans Hemmert, who is well known for his large yellow latex balloons which interrupt the architecture of public spaces and his more recent large scale video installations, will draw from these two bodies of work in his new series of drawings and animations.

Hemmert's exhibition consists of a series of four new video projections and graphite drawings in which he revisits his bright yellow forms and explores video in an intimate manner. His drawings depict figures interacting with certain objects articulated by a bright yellow color that at closer examination reveal themselves as impeccably rendered computer generated representations. The subtle yet loud differentiation between the yellow forms and the sketched graphite present a metaphor between a virtual and physical reality.

Presented next to the drawings are videos projected onto pieces of paper reduced to the size of the drawings. The videos depict images from the media collaged into the space of Hemmert's drawings confronting the roughness of the hand drawn figures. The works represent sketches for performances which will never take place in reality, and question one's perception of space, time, and the technology that is constantly confronting us.

Hans Hemmert has recently had solo exhibitions at carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; Le lieu unique-Association CRDC, Nantes; Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, and Art Unlimited at Art Basel. Hemmert has recently been included in group exhibitions at ICA London, and Air de Paris, Paris.