Wednesday, 6th June – Thursday, 2nd August 2017
Galerie Mehdi Chouakri
Fasanenstraße 61
10719 Berlin, Germany
Mehdi Chouakri is pleased to present two exhibitions of new works by Gerold MIller: “capteur d ́instant“ in the gallery on Fasanenplatz, and “amplificateur d ́espace“ on Mommsenstrasse, until September 2.
Whilst new sculptures from the “Verstärker“ series are on view at Mommsenstrasse, the series “section“ is presented for the first time on Fasanenplatz. These radical wall works represent the latest development in Gerold Miller’s production, to date the most far-reaching step of his defying attitude against traditional forms of painting and sculpture. The “section“ piece is surrounded by works from the series “set“ and “monoform“, that are characteristic of the artist’s thorough reflection on a reduced approach of representation, which he has been developing since the 1990s.
Through “section“, Gerold Miller broadens the classical concept of painting, merging the work with the architecture of the gallery space. It consists of a tilted truncated black and white square that immediately evokes the Russian avantgarde and Malevitch. The painting becomes a relief, a sculpture within the wall, which is turn changed into a pictorial space. The artist plays here with a subtle balance between the surface, the room, light and shadow, in order to question or way of seeing, his monochrome fields and black stripes both catching and withstanding the viewer’s gaze. Gerold Miller’s strategy is purely abstract, focusing solely on the materiality of the work and of the space itself.
“Verstärker“ is Gerold Miller’s first free-standing sculpture series, on view at Mommsenstrasse. The works are installed as a sculpture forest, in several sizes and finishes, that draws the limits of an imaginary space where the viewer is free to decide what to see. The absence of recognizable forms combined with the works’ strong shapes and material build a mesmerizing environment. By using a drastic reduction, the artist erases the borders of abstract painting and minimalist sculpture, hence moving these categories in a conceptual context.
Between 1984 and 1989, Gerold Miller studied sculpture at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. Later on, he stayed in Chicago, New York, Paris and Sydney for study visits. He lives and works in Berlin since 1998, and he was awarded the international Bodensee-Kulturpreis in 2001. His works have been exhibited in numerous institutions worlwide, amongst them Nationalgalerie – Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Tel-Aviv Museum of Art; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires; 21er Haus, Vienna; Mumok, Vienna; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main; Opera City Gallery, Tokio; South African National Gallery, Capetown; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Kunsthalle Winterthur.