Stefan Bruggemann

About

Blow de la Barra is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Stefan Brüggemann (Mexico, 1975). Often known for the use of language in his work, for his second exhibition at Blow de la Barra Brüggemann has created a new series of abstract neons entitled Obliteration Series. His text-based pieces are now substituted by purely visual forms; colourful neon lights reproduce a series of scribbles that explore different representations of denial and question the limitations of language.

From the negation of the word and the event of writing, to the idea of denial as an absolute and autonomous power, Obliteration Series features the notion of no as an empty, powerful and independent source that articulates in its various manifestations concepts such as rejection, non-conformity and absence. In their implicit denial of language, these lights represent both the search for a new ground, and the impossibility of the very same. Charged with a destructive nature, Obliteration Series constitutes a double negation.

The spontaneity and thrust of the artist?s gesture scrawling down on a piece of paper are cancelled in the production of the neon light, where the scribble becomes an industrial product detaching itself from the automatism that characterizes it as germinal writing. The initial aggression inherent to the urge of the gesture is reduced to a shake whose subversive character rests on the denial of language as a system of communication.

In the gallery?s office, the series of neons is completed with a number of previous paintings and text works by the artist that he has now obliterated with silver aluminium paint. The works in Obliteration Series appear impenetrable, in them we are confronted by a false concealment that impedes a clear reading of the work, and it is precisely this cryptic nature what seduces us.

Stefan Brüggemann is an artist based in London. In 2006, he was selected for Beck?s Futures where he presented Show Titles Series. Recent group shows include Yes Bruce Nauman, curated by Bruce Nauman, Zwirner & Wirth, New York (2006); Nothing, Schrim Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt (2006); Los Angeles / Mexico. Complexities and Heterogeneities, La Colección Jumex, Mexico City (2006); Off Key, curated by Phillippe Pirotte, Kunsthalle Bern, Swizterland (2005) and The Final Floor Show at Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp (2005). In Autumn 2007 he will have a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, Swizterland and Frac Dijon. He is also working on a major art project HOTEL HOTEL, a hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, to be finalized in Winter 2007.

A full colour catalogue Obliteration Series will be published for the exhibition featuring a conversation with Malcolm McLaren and texts by curators Raimundas Malasauskas and Nicolas de Oliveira.

A new publication Show Titles Vol. 1 2000-2006 published by Revolver will also be available at the gallery.