Showing posts with label Hannah Stahl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hannah Stahl. Show all posts
Seduced by Paint
By Matthew Comeau (MFA 2015)Arriving at a new place, with nothing but time; the first thing one does is seek out its most vital parts to assess which pieces of this new world can be absorbed and brought back to the soul. At the start of my stay here, I was in a funk. As much as I was ecstatic about my surroundings, ready and willing to work, I couldn’t get myself out of the sketchbook, as with everyone; it seemed to take a bit of time before we really sank into our practice.
As time and momentum built up, some very exciting things began to happen in the studio. My work has found itself in wild flux as well. I had been having some trouble escaping the confines of my sketchbook, but ended up stumbling upon the gutted remains of an industrial elevator being fixed within the Spinnerei. I took them back to my studio, and spent 3 weeks reorganizing and piecing back together the parts into freestanding and wall sculptures, incorporating bike parts, broken casts, antique cabinets, light fixtures, telephones, street signs, tubing, and even fly tape; still covered in flies. The project eventually turned into a (still ongoing) 12-foot installation, now in the main hall of our shared space, and while I don’t think I can bring much of it home; I found the temporality of the project broke down some psychological barriers in my art-making. Now into the second half of our stay, I’ve snapped back into two-dimensional work, experimenting with oil on canvas for the first time in a number of years. Oddly, I haven’t made a single drawing outside of my sketchbook in all of my time here. It must’ve rejuvenated something in me though, because I’ve become completely seduced by paint. While I don’t think I could ever bring myself to abandon my large drawings; I can’t wait see what kind of language will pull itself out, back in the Academy studios.
Esteban's new painting is easily one of my favorites. It depicts an outlandishly colorful and impasto driven kind of “80’s party” aesthetic with a twist. The figures seem to be inspired by an image of some Spinnerei workers from its days under the GDR, as a Cotton Mill. It became a full-fledged dive into painterly buildup, chunks of saturation climbing off the canvas’ surface, colors swimming in and out of one another in the faces of the figures. Having shared a studio for nearly two months now, I’ve steadily observed a conscience abandonment of the finesse of his hand, for the sake of a kind of absurd theatricality.
Hannah has chosen to use our travels as a conduit to push her work in an alternative direction. It seems she’s embracing a new process as well; one that pulls away for the cultural weight and pointed deliberation of her Holocaust images. Instead she’s chosen to derive references from her personal history, with a comparatively organic addition-and-removal of content, pushing towards narrative that is more intimate in subject and visceral in content; while allowing the viewer’s projections to complete her stories. Her new paintings seem to carry a sentimentality that was evident in her previous work, but is instead geared towards the intimacies and precious moments of her own life.
Camila has been exploring figures of authority, versus those of alienation and victimhood as its bi-product and polarity; and how relationships between representation and gestural abstraction can serve to support her conversations. She has been playing with the extent to which extensive rendering is necessary to convey a narrative; as well as how that kind of restraint, for the sake of leaving the open gesture, can leave space for the viewer’s imagination. On top of that, she seems to have stumbled into a kind of re-contextualized use of abstraction, as a potential narrative tool when placed appropriately in relation to the representational parts of her images. I’m excited to see how its use begins to evolve.
On the 13th of July, We had our exhibition at a castle called the Schloss in a small town just outside of Leipzig, known as Machern. The portion of the castle designated for the show was covered in bright pink and blue pastel interiors, chandeliers and Victorian style trim and furniture. The space was sliced into varying, sometimes oddly shaped rooms, emulating a strangely elegant ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feel. After a solid day of installation, all of our work (in its seemingly disjointed variety relative to one another) ended up as a great fit for the space. At the opening itself, we were shocked by how above and beyond the castle’s employment had gone to entertain its guests. There was champagne being brought around throughout the opening, a live classical pianist, a separate reception room, in which our fantastic coordinator, Kristina, gave a speech welcoming the guests, introducing us and our work. On top of a surprisingly high turnout, given its location outside of Leipzig, the exhibition was even written about in two newspapers!
Thus far, the experience has been a wild one, with each of our practice’s driven in some unexpected directions. While it is exhilarating to observe one another in such significant transition; one cannot help their own excitement for what is to come next year.
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Matthew Comeau (MFA 2015) is joined by Hannah Stahl (MFA 2015), Camila Rocha (MFA 2015), and Esteban Ocampo (MFA 2015) in Leipzig, Germany for a two-month Residency. The students will share their adventures in Germany throughout the summer on the Academy's blog. Stay tuned!
Creating Memories We'll Never Forget
By
Hannah Stahl (MFA 2015)
Here is a video compilation of the various happenings we’ve had the incredible opportunity to be a part of in Germany. The video takes a look at our home and studio life at the Leipzig Spinnerei; critiques with other artists-in-residence; a trip to Berlin to see the Käthe Kollwitz Museum and the Gemäldegalerie at the Kulturforum; an art opening on Karl-Heine-Straße, a visit with Berlin artist, Ruprecht Von Kaufmann, and a tour of the Schloß Castle in Machern. We've had the pleasure of celebrating birthdays (Camila’s, Piper’s and Matt’s), and creating fun memories that we will never forget like beating eggs with a whisk attached to a power drill, snoring on the bus, and of course, lots of meals filled with hefeweizen and bratwurst. Enjoy!
Instead
of writing about all the things we’ve seen so far, I've decided to show you.
Here is a video compilation of the various happenings we’ve had the incredible opportunity to be a part of in Germany. The video takes a look at our home and studio life at the Leipzig Spinnerei; critiques with other artists-in-residence; a trip to Berlin to see the Käthe Kollwitz Museum and the Gemäldegalerie at the Kulturforum; an art opening on Karl-Heine-Straße, a visit with Berlin artist, Ruprecht Von Kaufmann, and a tour of the Schloß Castle in Machern. We've had the pleasure of celebrating birthdays (Camila’s, Piper’s and Matt’s), and creating fun memories that we will never forget like beating eggs with a whisk attached to a power drill, snoring on the bus, and of course, lots of meals filled with hefeweizen and bratwurst. Enjoy!
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Hannah Stahl (MFA 2015) is joined by Camila Rocha (MFA 2015), Matthew Comeau (MFA 2015), and Esteban Ocampo (MFA 2015) in Leipzig, Germany for a two-month Residency. On the Academy's blog,
the students will share their adventures abroad throughout the summer.
Return here for updates and more from Germany.
Surviving Generations and Wars: Part of Leipzig's History
By Camila Rocha MFA 2015
We were greeted at Spinnerei by Kristina Seminova (LIA program coordinator, an amazing and intelligent Russian woman, who knows all). In the few first days, she explained the history of where we were staying. The old cotton mill factory had survived generations and wars to become one of the most important centers of art, artists residencies, studios and galleries in Germany. Today big names like Neo Rauch, Oliver Kossack, Rosa Loy and many others are residents of this factory complex.
We
have two independent artists in the residency with us, Piper Mavis a
visual artist form Los Angeles/CA and Francis Morgan, a Berlin based
painter from Australia. I have to confess that part of the success of
this trip is because of them. They happily motivate us with the energy
that they emanate. Their critiques and feedback on art outside of the
school have been very helpful in making us think more maturely about
our studio practices. I feel that I've learned so much from them. Their
confidence is very inspiring. Frankie has the most marvelous sayings:
“One of my goals is channeling my emotions into paint instead of fucking
up someone's day". And whatever impression that gives you, it's yours to
take. How honest is that?
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Camila Rocha is joined by Matthew Comeau, Esteban Ocampo and Hannah Stahl in Leipzig, Germany for a two-month Residency. On the Academy's blog, the students will share their adventures abroad throughout the summer. Return here for updates and more from Germany.
 |
Dreaming big (and getting a little jealous too) in front
of Olafur Eliasson huge studio in Berlin.
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Four Academy classmates from the class of 2015 were chosen to attend the LIA residency in Leipzig, Germany. After many months of working hard, we knew how much effort everyone put into their work and we felt very honored for this opportunity. Although we will miss everyone, we're happy to share some moments from Europe. Arriving in Germany for the first time can be quite a surprise. Everything is written in German and very well organized. Few people speak English well and are always apologetic that they can’t speak English better. Since the German citizens are extremely kind and polite, at one point we asked "Who are these people?" we are the outsiders and we should be learning their language.
We were greeted at Spinnerei by Kristina Seminova (LIA program coordinator, an amazing and intelligent Russian woman, who knows all). In the few first days, she explained the history of where we were staying. The old cotton mill factory had survived generations and wars to become one of the most important centers of art, artists residencies, studios and galleries in Germany. Today big names like Neo Rauch, Oliver Kossack, Rosa Loy and many others are residents of this factory complex.
This facilities smell like art, from the inside out!!! Leipzig feels like a small town but its energy is like a busy metropolis with art fairs, openings within the buildings all over the city. There are so many openings to go that we had to get organized, the list of
museums and place to visit are endless leaving no time to spear. Many of city's apartments seem empty, but a growing number of artists of a younger generation have been taking over. One of the reasons for this is because of Leipzig Visual arts and fine arts.
We visited Stephan Guggisberg and Sebastian Burger's studio, two of Neo Rauch’s graduate students. It was fascinating to see their process and the way they approach painting in a contemporary manner. Sebastian’s approach seems to be a tedious and unforgiving attempt to search for light and is
influenced by his photography background. He literally fights with some
type of dry media and paint on paper. Almost like a geographer
excavating the image from the paper. It left us all in awe about the amount of work that goes each piece, a small work can take around 15 hours to be complete.
Sebatian’s studio practice is related to Cryptomnesia and reflects the idea of tapping into the unconsciousness to experience memory as inspiration.
His iconography comes from different unknown sources and often, after a
piece is done, he encounters the images in history books or graphics
from ancient art work. His process although a very different from “Plagiarism” generates a totally different conceptual meaning due his methodology.
With a full calendar of events and activities, I can't wait to share more and tell you about our studio practices and excursions around Leipzig and to Berlin. I
had to visit Berlin to get my visa renewed and I found a little time to
visit a museum close to the bus central station-- The Grunderzeit Museum. This museum was created by Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf and it shows the art collection of the family. I found a very humble list of artists that I had never heard of before. What a fascinating visit. We also went as a group to visit the Neue Galerie and David Bowie Exhibition curated by the Victoria and Albert museum in England. In my next post, I will tell you about all this and more! ###
Camila Rocha is joined by Matthew Comeau, Esteban Ocampo and Hannah Stahl in Leipzig, Germany for a two-month Residency. On the Academy's blog, the students will share their adventures abroad throughout the summer. Return here for updates and more from Germany.
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