The new soloshow of Marc Bijl at Upstream Gallery will be the last show where dark symbolism will meet up with abstract forms. After this it will be codes only. It is the moment before total paranoia and abstraction of the artists work.
Every structural political or religious system is a system of power, sustainability and belief and not of wisdom, change and development. This show connects the artists thoughts on those structures and where he belongs himself as an artist in an arthistorical context.
Some previous works were adressing already the spiritual minimalism and abstract questions referring to Barnett Newman, Piet Mondrian and SoLewitt. They were searching for the same exit strategy, away from religious freedom and political choices into fundamentalistic thoughts and radical art.
This exhibition will show the missing link between that spirit and Marc Bijl’s own personal background of goth music, political interest and grafitti-art. Departing from the 9/11 WTC attacks and their ever lasting debates and conspiracy theories as a backdrop for the human ability to turn every disastrous event into an abstract idea of good and evil. Old vs New. The cliché images we might know from existing theories and arthistory into personal works of art of conspiracy between paintings, video and sculpture.
For his first solo show at Upstream Gallery, Zwartjes has build a
monumental installation which best can be characterized as environmental,
the podia on which episodes of a narrative take place. This new
installation is constructed from damaged, half decayed materials and
objects that Zwartjes collected during his journeys through the city.
Together with a number of life-size figures, the found materials make up
the decor for a mythological journey of self-destruction to rebirth in an
apocalyptic tableau.
Art Forum Berlin Solo-presentation with Marc Bijl
Presentations with Jeroen Jongeleen and Jen Liu in the curated groupshow Big City Lab
Marc Bijl ‘A search into the Nature of Society’ 2005/06.
Artnews Projects
Artnews Projects is the experimental space of Artnews.info. In October 2006 Artnews Projects presented its first exhibition with Cristian Andersen, Marc Bijl, David Haines and Lucy Wood, curated by Nieck de Bruijn, Upstream Gallery Amsterdam.
Upstream-show at Artnews Projects, Brunnenstrasse 190, Berlin
Almost everyone longs for meaningful contact, whether it is through involvement in a public event or a private interaction. In fact, even seemingly aggressive acts can reveal vulnerability in this regard, which attests to the truly complex nature of human relations.
British artist, David Haines, creates contemplative and obsessive drawings, songs, and videos to connect with the unfamiliar — he offers personal representations of the anonymous figures central to his voyeuristic pursuits, he locates poetic contexts in ambiguous texts drawn from online forums and, through his observations, seemingly banal scenarios prove to be extraordinarily multifaceted. Haines knows there is always more than meets the eye, and he invites audiences to join him the search for that which lies beneath the surface.
Pepo Salazar
‘Rich bitch with stinking slit /
sits on slim kid’s stiff dick /
Drink and lick / Think a hit.’
Since 1990 Salazar has been working on videoperformance, video, sound, drawing, installation and photography.
In his work Salazar spectacularly twists and manipulates concepts from their etymological base. Concepts that historically had a utopic and subversive connotation are metamorphosed completely through the language of the media and what possibilities of persuasion these new meanings have. The result of this mutations is a collection of depoliticised images, words and strategies adapted to neoliberal ideology and marketing.
The work of Pepo Salazar tries to show and criticise these aspects and includes elements that belong to the artistic sphere, to subversive positions found on the fringe of politics, to the operative capacity of cultural projects in a society which definitely does not understand complex political language.
Jeroen Jongeleen’s sticker and graffiti actions counter the standardized
and commercialized inner-city spaces with subtle interventions. Under the
label ‘Influenza’ - referring to its potential effect as uninvited
distorted of the common, creating an alias for the maker at the same time
- Jongeleen continuously develops new signs, figures and texts. He often
makes direct reference to the hegemony of architectural structures and
public advertising displays, shifts or supplements their visual codes.
Jeroen Jongeleen grasps his work not only as an activist strategy, but
also as an examination of the possibilities of artistic expression in
public space.
Laura Parnes
Blood and Guts in High School
8 dec - 15 januari
Upstream Gallery will show a series of video’s titled ‘Blood and Guts in High School’ by Laura Parnes. A series of video installations that re-imagine punk-feminist icon Kathy Acker’s book of the same title. The book was written from 1978-1982 during the rise of Reagan republicanism and the emergence of punk rock. In Parnes’ interpretation, each video-chapter presents a typical scene in the life of Janie bracketed by US news events from the time period in which the book was written. These events saturate the character’s daily experience, informing her adolescent, nihilistic worldview and her desire for rebellion. As the viewer looks back at pivotal historical events (Jonestown Massacre, Moral Majority, Three Mile Island etc.) connections are drawn in relation to our current political situation. From the fashions to the oil crises to the religious fanaticism, the times seem interchangeable.
ART AMSTERDAM
Solo-presentation with Folkert de Jong in the ART Amsterdam Prize 2004 booth
Grouppresentation with Cristian Andersen, Marc Bijl, Folkert de Jong, Jan Kempenaers
