Kiefer, Schnabels Works in Seoul
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
German artist Anselm Kiefer and American artist Julian Schnabel are two of the most brilliant contemporary artists today. Their acclaimed works are now on display in two separate exhibitions in Seoul.
Kiefer's ``Das Geheimnis der Farne'' runs through May 24 at Kukje Gallery New Space, while ``Schnabel Asia'' is ongoing at the Gallery Hyundai through April 20.
Anselm Kiefer
``Das Geheimnis der Farne'' (The Secret of Ferns), Kiefer's third exhibit at the Kukje Gallery, features recent works created between 2004 and 2007.
At the gallery, visitors are greeted with a huge installation piece composed of two houses and 20 fern panels. Ferns, according to the exhibit's co-curator Lorcan O'Neill, are a symbol of invisibility in mythology. Mythology, theology, medieval alchemy and Kabbalah are themes that are of great interest to Kiefer.
``Geheimnis means secret in German. It is `secret' in a complex way. In mythology, the ferns make you invisible. That's why the two houses have doors, but you can't see through it. Invisibility has got many sides of it. Like the secret of the cosmos and where we come from, there are many references to it,'' O'Neill said, during a press conference last week.
Kiefer has used diverse materials such as soil, straw, ash, clay, lead and shellac in his enigmatic works. His works are replete with symbolism, allowing the viewers to derive a host of meanings from it.
``Great artists have always invented new ways of using materials. Great art finds new ways of using materials in ways that people have not seen before. You can certainly say that for Anselm Kiefer. He's a great artist who can turn many things into art, from mud to lead to paint,'' O'Neill said.
Also included in the exhibit is an outdoor book sculpture and seven large paintings. All of the works were transported from Kiefer's studio in Barjac, France, except for a huge stone that is from Korea. O'Neill said Kiefer thought it would be good to use a local Korean stone, instead of bringing the original stone from France.
Born in Donaueschingen, Germany in 1945, Kiefer's works show his keen interest in German history and its role in civilization. In his early works, Kiefer confronted controversial issues about the Holocaust and Nazi rule.
In 1980, his acclaimed presentation at the Venice Biennale showed broader themes regarding life and death, and the relationship between man and the universe. In 1992, he moved to Barjac, France and established his enormous studio compound.
Kiefer has had exhibitions at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Royal Academy, London; and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. Last year, Kiefer became the first artist since 1953 to have a permanent art installation at the Louvre.
Visit www.kukjegallery.com or call (02) 733-8449.
Schnabel Asia
Seoul is the final stop of the Asian tour of this retrospective of Schnabel's works, after Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is a rare opportunity for Asian viewers to come face-to-face with 24 of his iconic works from the mid-80's to 2007.
Schnabel is not just a painter but also a sculptor, photographer and award-winning film director (he won best director for ``Diving Bell and Butterfly" at last year's Cannes Film Festival). Born in Texas in 1951, he is largely credited for having ``almost single-handedly rescued painting from its moribund state in the 1970s.''
His paintings are a fascinating mix of different materials, and bright splashes of color and graffiti. He is also known for his ``plate paintings,'' featuring a mosaic of broken plates. Examples include the stunning portraits of his wife, ``Portrait of Olatz'' and ``Portrait of Olatz with Cy.''
If you get the urge to ask, ``What does it mean?'' Don't bother finding out why. For Schnabel, the whole point of his works is ``not to say why that's there.''
``Would you say to Miles Davis, `Where did you get that note?' We don't ask why. We accept that that is the form that that takes. Why is it so hard for somebody to go, "Ok, that is sort of drippy purple paint, the surface of this thing is, it seems like a sand paper.'' What does that mean? It doesn't mean anything other than what it is. You will not find a little rabbit in there,'' Schnabel said, during an interview aired on CNN's Talk Asia.
In the exhibition catalogue, Max Hollein, director of the Stadelsches Kunstinstitut and Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, said ``Schnabel is an extraordinary transformer ― making history out of the everyday and making the familiar historic.''
``It requires a body of work that has a strong metaphoric quality, an art that is about illusion, association, imagination. Even when his paintings are most abstract, they are all about content, history and emotion,'' Hollein said
Visit www.galleryhyundai.com or call (02) 734-6111.