We are very pleased to present Dominika Bednarsky, Rusudan Khizanishvili and Ivana de Vivanco together in the exhibition „Im Namen der Hose“. With strong color contrasts and ironic exaggerations, the exhibition exposes social power relations and traditional gender roles. Playfully and with a grain of salt, the three artists overrule conventional visual habits and provide a liberated view of historical and contemporary contexts beyond the boundaries of stereotypical viewing patterns.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION
Dominika Bednarsky
Snap Competition V, 2019, glazed ceramic
120 x 55 x 55 cm
Dominika Bednarsky presents new works from her series of glazed ceramics entitled XOXOXO, which uses the grotesque to expose the abyss of everyday phenomena in popular culture. Each artwork consists of multiple animals, such as snakes or cats. Piled up and intertwined with one another, they entangle in love games. Almost innocent in contrast, a flower pot joins in, adding a homey touch to these whimsical scenes bedded on cheesy bath mats. What looks funny, cute and colorful, seems alienating, even outrageous at second glance, and does not miss the artistic intention. What interests Dominika Bednarsky much more than the obvious subject of the depictions hides as an implicit message: our voyeuristic pleasure-seeking and greed for consumption. Binge-watching, streaming cat videos and pornography are mass phenomena of our digital reality. In addition to the risk of social neglect, these habits also pose a growing ecological problem due to their high power consumption. In the face of climate change and the accompanying destruction of habitat for flora and fauna, the absurdity of this frivolous satisfaction of needs can hardly be surpassed.
Dominika Bednarsky
XOXOXOXO (Katzen), 2022, glazed ceramic
50 x 42 x 40 cm
Dominika Bednarsky
XOXOXOXO (Schlangen), 2022, glazed ceramic
60 x 37 x 28 cm
Dominika Bednarsky
XOXOXOXO (Schlangen und Hasen), 2022, glazed ceramic
40 x 35 x 40 cm
In contrast, Rusudan Khizanishvili strives for harmonious conditions in her paintings. She creates surreal dream worlds where women take the lead. At the center of color-intensive spatial constructions full of floral patterns and forms are female figures that are reminiscent of goddesses of an ancient mythology. In the work „Circus Paradise“ two shadowy creatures serve as pedestals for a female figure. From her lower body grows an additional, mysterious upper body. Mutations, transformations of and connections between bodies form a thematic thread throughout the work of the Georgian artist, who translates the rich cultural tradition of her homeland into an expressive and contemporary visual language. Hopeful and self-confident, the dreamlike images defy all patriarchal resistance and herald the self-empowerment of women, without excluding or suppressing other forms of existence.
Rusudan Khizanishvili
Circus Paradise, 2020, oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm
Rusudan Khizanishvili
Crossing River, 2019, acryl and mixed media on canvas
130 x 100 cm
Rusudan Khizanishvili
Siblings, 2021, oil on canvas
170 x 140 cm
Ivana de Vivanco
Captain Ann Carter, 2021, oil on canvas
190 x 190 x 4,5 cm
With complex narratives and references to (art-) history and literature Ivana de Vivanco rewrites the history of marginalized groups such as women and children, but also of cultures oppressed by colonial authorities. Her theatrical stagings unfold an emotional intensity through a bright color palette, shrill contrasts, and sophisticated compositions that lend emphasis to her artistic concerns. Works from different work phases diyplay the artist’s playful and mischievous delight to subvert our visual habits by turning things upside down. Thus „Martha“ and „Charles“ seem to be the modern interpretation of Adam and Eve. Unlike „Martha“ in her green panties, bottomless „Charles“ in his white tennis socks and slippers is exposed to ridicule. The cut-outs consist of interchangeable body fragments and with a humorous wink question the concept of binary gender. The injustices that women still have to fight against today are the subject of the large-format painting „Captain Ann Carter,“ which tells the story of a housewife condemned to death at the center of a British workers‘ revolt. Supplemented by an installation of object and video, de Vivanco expands the gender-specific theme to include a general critique of the capitalist system, in which production and the creation of value continue to stand in an asymmetrical relationship.
Dominika Bednarsky, born in 1994 in Schweinfurt, lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. She studied from 2015 at the renowned Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach (GER). In 2020, her serial sculptures were shown twice in group exhibitions at Galerie Anita Beckers in Frankfurt (GER). In 2020 she received the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship and participated in the group exhibition ’Alles im Wunderland’ at the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden (GER), and in ’Kunst für Tiere’ at the Opelvillen in Rüsselsheim (GER) in 2021. Her last solo exhibition took place in 2021 at Kunstverein Wiesen (GER). In 2022 she takes part in group exhibitions at 68projects in Berlin (GER) and at the Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis in Bregenz (AUT).
Rusudan Khizanishvili, born in 1979, lives and paints in Tbilisi, Georgia. She has received her two BFAs in Painting from J.Nikoladze Art School and from Tbilisi State Academy of Art. In 2004 Rusudan received her MA in Film Studies from Tbilisi State Academy of Art. Over the past fifteen years Khizanishvili has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions including Museum of Modern Art Tbilisi (GEO), Museum of Literature of Georgia, Tbilisi State Silk Museum (GEO), Mark Rothko Foundation, Daugavapils (LVA), Galerie Am Roten Hof, Vienna (AUT), Arundel Contemporary, Arundel (GBR), New Image Art Gallery, Santa Monica (USA), Kunstverein Villa Wessel Iserlohn (GER), Norty Paris (FRA), Triumph Gallery, Moscow (RUS), Assembly Room, New York (USA), Window Project, Tbilisi (GEO) and 68projects in Berlin (GER). In 2015 Khizanishvili represented Georgia among five other artists at the 56th Venice Art Biennale (ITA). Her works are presented in the collection of the Georgian National Museum, the private collection of Stefan Simchowitz, L.A. (USA) and the Breus Foundation, Moscow (RUS).
Ivana de Vivanco (b. 1989 in Lisbon) is a Chilean-Peruvian artist based in Germany. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Chile in Santiago and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. She has been a grant holder of DAAD, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Cultural Foundation of Saxony and in 2015 she was awarded with the Marion-Ermer-Prize for young artists in Germany. Her work has been featured in several publications such as 100 Painters of Tomorrow published in London by Thames & Hudson and has been recently exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago (CHL), Kunsthalle Darmstadt (GER), The RYDER Projects in Madrid (ESP), BeAdvidors in London (GBR) and 68 Projects in Berlin (GER).