MICHAEL KREBBER
 EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2005
July 7 – September 4, 2005
Main Hall


Michael Krebber, exhibition view
Michael Krebber, exhibition view


Michael Krebber is a central figure in the Cologne based scene significantly involved in the international positioning of conceptually oriented painting. His work is informed by his proficiency in a multi-faceted vocabulary-the dismissal and recuperation of painterly qualities, the scrutiny of the boundaries of the picture plane, and the tension between representation and abstraction. This knowledge reverberates with a historically interested reflection of the medium and a constant questioning, without, however, generation friction. Nevertheless the use of stylistic means plays a central role, especially the (brush) mark and the question of the "right" form: they are relevant for the development of a content-oriented attitude remaining in a state of formal doubt.


Michael Krebber, exhibition view
Michael Krebber, exhibition view


In the Secession, Michael Krebber's paintings were shown already in the group show Hier ist dort 2 in 2002. For his upcoming show in the Secession's Hauptraum the artist chose not to employ explicit painterly strategies. His first solo exhibition in an Austrian art institution presents an artistic language primarily interested in painting, without necessarily integrating it as a medium or a tool. In this way, Michael Krebber also offers a model that eludes the incessantly returning discussion about the relevance of painting without doing away with the significance of painterly concerns.


Michael Krebber, exhibition view
Michael Krebber, exhibition view


In the Hauptraum of the Secession, Michael Krebber combines a series of wooden stretchers manufactured for this specific purpose with a selection of industrially produced colored fabrics. Like in earlier installations, the main focus again is on the hanging: Michael Krebber simulates relationships between elements of different formal and content qualities. The result is a process of becoming form, which, however, is kept afloat. This tension between "form" and "formless" distinguishes the work from mere performative play.


Michael Krebber, exhibition view
Michael Krebber, exhibition view


As Helmut Draxler highlights in the catalogue for the exhibition, Michael Krebber's work deals mainly with the shape of the relationships between signs: " how figure and ground, form and format, surface and space, color and object, frame and wall, object and installation, light and place, material and reference, title and context, original and found material can be related to one another."


Slideprojection: Spawning sea anenome, coverillustration of 'Alien Hybrid Creatures'
Slideprojection: Spawning sea anenome, coverillustration of "Alien Hybrid Creatures"


The exhibition in the Secession is closely linked to the exhibition catalogue. Michael Krebber adopts it as an archive of his exhibition projects from 2001 up to today. The structure is determined by the visual concept developed by Heimo Zobernig for all Secession publications. Parallel to the project in the Secession, the book Außerirdische Zwitterwesen / Alien Hybrid Creatures will be published. It is based on a Michael Krebber slide lecture addressing the historical figure of the dandy, among other things.


PUBLICATION

Katalog MICHAEL KREBBER

60 pages, 60 color illustrations, 14 b/w-illustrations
authors: Helmut Draxler, Matthias Herrmann
Secession 2005, ISBN 3-901926-81-X
___________________

available in the shop


MICHAEL KREBBER, born 1954, lives and works in Cologne.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection): 2004 Unfinished Too Soon, dépendance, Brussel; warm up (how I hit a snob), Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles; 2003 Here it is: The Painting Machine, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Ohne Titel, bitte nicht wegwerfen, die falschen Bäume anheulen, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin; 2002 Metalltanz, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Graz (with Josephine Pryde); 2001 Der durchschnittliche Speisefisch sagt ADIEU - The average, edible fish says ADIEU, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne; 2000 Michael Krebber - Apothekerman, Kunstverein Braunschweig; Michael Krebber - Apothekerman, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection): 2005 Roy Arden, Michael Krebber, John Miller, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles; Post Modern, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; 2004 Formalismus. Moderne Kunst, heute, Kunstverein in Hamburg; Deutschland sucht ..., Kölnischer Kunstverein; Rhinegold: Art from Cologne, Tate Liverpool; 2003 Outlook. International Art Exhibition Athens 2003, Athens; Hands up, Baby, Hands up, Oldenburger Kunstverein; The State of the Upper Floor: Panorama?, Kunstverein München; Malerei II Ausstellung Nulldrei, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne; 2002 Hier ist dort 2, Secession, Vienna


LECTURE
Sunday, September 4, 2005, 6 p.m.
Pubertät in der Malerei, Lecture by Michael Krebber
An event of Friends of the Secession


Installation shots: Matthias Herrmann



The exhibitions are realized through support of:
Erste Bank – Partner of the Secession
Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur
Wien Kultur
Friends of the Secession



CATHERINE SULLIVAN     TERENCE KOH EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2005



For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Urte Schmitt-Ulms
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at