Behlau / Loesch: GOOD MORNING, HALLO.

About

With GOOD MORNING, HALLO the G2 Artspace presents the first dual exhibition of Berlin-based artists Stefan Behlau and Dennis Loesch in Leipzig.

Analogous to memory processes, which are often characterized by incomplete and faulty repetition, Loesch reproduces digital colors and images, transporting them onto real-life visual mediums in the form of oversized memory sticks and SD cards that illustrate the idea of a data storage device.

Behlau’s large-format compositions carry on the tradition of American color field painting. His monumental squeegee abstractions form a relief-like chromatic film on the grounding of the canvas. Paradoxically his works negate the technical skills of the painter’s hand, while also emphasizing manual execution through an inherent gesture of movement. His use of color as a physical substance subtly synthesizes both technoid and poetic elements.

While Behlau frequently takes inspiration from other artists, Loesch freely avails himself of elements from popular image culture. What both artists share, however, is an interest in the process of concretization and reification. Simultaneously, their approach leads to the fragmentization and inversion of color relations and combinations, consequently offering a redefinition of the color gradient principle, either as a physical or immaterial process. 

Stefan Behlau (born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1979) studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Dennis Loesch (born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1979) graduated from Frankfurt’s Städel Academy. Both artists live and work in Berlin, where they share a studio.

The G2 Artspace has invited Stefan Behlau and Dennis Loesch to present their work in one of the four halls of its recently founded exhibition space. For both artists, this show will be their first in Leipzig. All works shown here were created specifically for this exhibition.

An exhibition catalog will be published to accompany this exhibition.

Following the opening exhibition G2 #1, which exclusively showed works from the Hildebrand Collection, GOOD MORNING, HALLO inaugurates a series of exhibitions produced by the G2 in close collaboration with the exhibiting artists.

The G2 continues to present artworks from the Hildebrand Collection in its more than 1,000 squaremeters large exhibition space. The permanent exhibition focuses on contemporary painters from Leipzig including important names like Tilo Baumgärtel, Henriette Grahnert, Paule Hammer, Uwe Kowski, Peter Krauskopf, Edgar Leciejewski, Rosa Loy, Neo Rauch, Christoph Ruckhäberle and Matthias Weischer. For G2 #2 the permanent exhibition will be further complemented by a selection of artworks by Terry Haggerty, Tomás Saraceno, Julia Schmidt and Koen van den Broek.

G2 #2
Hildebrand Collection +
GOOD MORNING, HALLO.
Stefan Behlau & Dennis Loesch
Exhibition duration: November 27, 2015 – February 21, 2016
Venue: G2 Kunsthalle, Dittrichring 13, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
Opening: Thursday, November 26, 2015, 6–9pm. Please RSVP: opening@g2-leipzig.de

Opening hours: Wednesdy 3–8 pm. Guided tours: Thursday–Monday, 10am, 11 am, 3pm & 4 pm (online booking required at www.g2-leipzig.de/en).

The G2 Artspace offers special group tours in various languages (German, English, French, Italian and Russian) and school programs free of charge for teachers and students. Individual visits may be scheduled upon request. Please contact us for further information.

Admission: The admission fee is 5 Euros per person; reduced tickets are available for 3 Euros. Students under 27 are eligible for reduced admission (valid ID / Documents required). Students of Fine Arts and Art History, as well as children under the age of 12, enter free of charge. Children must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult.