#1: Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn
26.06.21–24.07.21
Esther Zahel
Esther Zahel's works, which are as much space-consuming as they are space-creating, travel with her. In the process, they grow and change. The finished state would also be an unloved standstill, for Zahel's interest is in the processual. She wants to explore how it continues at the edge of the pictures - painterly and narrative. Her painting tells stories in layers. The motifs develop over time like annual rings around the painter. They emerge as layers on the canvases of her enclosure. Complementary settings and overpaintings follow the respective use of space or refer to an earlier one. Pictures in the painting remind us of former guests, artist friends, who as a concrete motif, however, appear just as little as the lady of the house herself or other residents. Their presence is revealed solely in the traces of use on the furniture and objects, which thereby take on character. For it is precisely the small flaws, the traces of wear and tear, that lift them from the level of the trivial into private spheres.
With her work at the Kunstverein, Esther Zahel invites visitors to trespass, allows them to penetrate into the private sphere. She even turns the inside out: texts on the backs of her canvases do not allow the façade of her home to become an anonymous, perfect façade. Instead, they allow insights into the artist's world of thought. Emerging during the painterly work on the interior, the thoughts are now there for everyone to see - disordered, irreversible, as splinters or fleeting diary entries to a still never-ending process.
Esther Zahel (*1990 in Hanau) lives and works in Augsburg. She studied from 2013 to 2018 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Günther Förg and Matthias Dornfeld. She completed her studies as a master student with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. In 2019, the artist received the Leonard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize and participated in various artist-in-residence programs, including Kunstarkaden Kempten and Künstlerstadt Kalbe.
Esther Zahel's works, which are as much space-consuming as they are space-creating, travel with her. In the process, they grow and change. The finished state would also be an unloved standstill, for Zahel's interest is in the processual. She wants to explore how it continues at the edge of the pictures - painterly and narrative. Her painting tells stories in layers. The motifs develop over time like annual rings around the painter. They emerge as layers on the canvases of her enclosure. Complementary settings and overpaintings follow the respective use of space or refer to an earlier one. Pictures in the painting remind us of former guests, artist friends, who as a concrete motif, however, appear just as little as the lady of the house herself or other residents. Their presence is revealed solely in the traces of use on the furniture and objects, which thereby take on character. For it is precisely the small flaws, the traces of wear and tear, that lift them from the level of the trivial into private spheres.
With her work at the Kunstverein, Esther Zahel invites visitors to trespass, allows them to penetrate into the private sphere. She even turns the inside out: texts on the backs of her canvases do not allow the façade of her home to become an anonymous, perfect façade. Instead, they allow insights into the artist's world of thought. Emerging during the painterly work on the interior, the thoughts are now there for everyone to see - disordered, irreversible, as splinters or fleeting diary entries to a still never-ending process.
Esther Zahel (*1990 in Hanau) lives and works in Augsburg. She studied from 2013 to 2018 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Günther Förg and Matthias Dornfeld. She completed her studies as a master student with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. In 2019, the artist received the Leonard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize and participated in various artist-in-residence programs, including Kunstarkaden Kempten and Künstlerstadt Kalbe.
Peter Langenhahn
"What is living about?" wonders Peter Langenhahn, who was asked by his partner Esther Zahel to join her on the Groundfloor Playground at the Kunstverein. "About being protected when you need it most." This is the case in sleep and in the intimate moments of life - the moments when people are vulnerable. By reducing all needs, living space could therefore be reduced to the ultimate shelter: the bed.
Langenhahn consistently implements this idea with his "amphibian caravan". A bed and some storage space underneath determine the dimensions of his supposedly mobile home made of birch wood, maritime pine and cotton fabric. The volume of the room has been reduced to the minimum necessary for getting up and changing clothes.
Those who want to embark on an imaginary journey in the Kunstverein with the "Thing", like the artist and his partner, are protected from the weather on land and water by the shell, which has been soaked in beeswax in an almost archaic process. The exit to the front allows the traveler to set foot on dry land even after traveling over bodies of water.
The starting point of the journeys of the artist, the son of a sailor, is always his "cosmos of do-it-yourself". In other words, the place from which all his recent works sprang. For in working out new craft techniques, Peter Langenhahn sees not only the chance to visualize his feelings for others in the best possible way. Through the experiences he makes in the process, these feelings also become tangible for himself, and through the development of appropriate tools, perhaps even reproducible for others.
Where will Peter Langenhahn's journey take him now? Who knows? In any case, the route will follow his longing for self-determination.
Peter Langenhahn (*1984 in Neuruppin) lives and works in Augsburg. He studied communication design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences until 2011 and was assistant to Hubertus Hamm in Munich in 2013. Since 2016 he has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. He was recently represented with his work in group exhibitions at the Galerie Klüser in Munich as well as at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei.
"What is living about?" wonders Peter Langenhahn, who was asked by his partner Esther Zahel to join her on the Groundfloor Playground at the Kunstverein. "About being protected when you need it most." This is the case in sleep and in the intimate moments of life - the moments when people are vulnerable. By reducing all needs, living space could therefore be reduced to the ultimate shelter: the bed.
Langenhahn consistently implements this idea with his "amphibian caravan". A bed and some storage space underneath determine the dimensions of his supposedly mobile home made of birch wood, maritime pine and cotton fabric. The volume of the room has been reduced to the minimum necessary for getting up and changing clothes.
Those who want to embark on an imaginary journey in the Kunstverein with the "Thing", like the artist and his partner, are protected from the weather on land and water by the shell, which has been soaked in beeswax in an almost archaic process. The exit to the front allows the traveler to set foot on dry land even after traveling over bodies of water.
The starting point of the journeys of the artist, the son of a sailor, is always his "cosmos of do-it-yourself". In other words, the place from which all his recent works sprang. For in working out new craft techniques, Peter Langenhahn sees not only the chance to visualize his feelings for others in the best possible way. Through the experiences he makes in the process, these feelings also become tangible for himself, and through the development of appropriate tools, perhaps even reproducible for others.
Where will Peter Langenhahn's journey take him now? Who knows? In any case, the route will follow his longing for self-determination.
Peter Langenhahn (*1984 in Neuruppin) lives and works in Augsburg. He studied communication design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences until 2011 and was assistant to Hubertus Hamm in Munich in 2013. Since 2016 he has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. He was recently represented with his work in group exhibitions at the Galerie Klüser in Munich as well as at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei.
Saturday, 03.07.21
17–22 h
17–22 h
"Second opening" of the exhibition to the "Kleine Kunst Nacht" with Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn
︎︎︎ all events
Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn:
Esther Zahel:
Esther Zahel's works, which are as much space-consuming as they are space-creating, travel with her. In the process, they grow and change. The finished state would also be an unloved standstill, for Zahel's interest is in the processual. She wants to explore how it continues at the edge of the pictures - painterly and narrative. Her painting tells stories in layers. The motifs develop over time like annual rings around the painter. They emerge as layers on the canvases of her enclosure. Complementary settings and overpaintings follow the respective use of space or refer to an earlier one. Pictures in the painting remind us of former guests, artist friends, who as a concrete motif, however, appear just as little as the lady of the house herself or other residents. Their presence is revealed solely in the traces of use on the furniture and objects, which thereby take on character. For it is precisely the small flaws, the traces of wear and tear, that lift them from the level of the trivial into private spheres.
With her work at the Kunstverein, Esther Zahel invites visitors to trespass, allows them to penetrate into the private sphere. She even turns the inside out: texts on the backs of her canvases do not allow the façade of her home to become an anonymous, perfect façade. Instead, they allow insights into the artist's world of thought. Emerging during the painterly work on the interior, the thoughts are now there for everyone to see - disordered, irreversible, as splinters or fleeting diary entries to a still never-ending process.
Esther Zahel (*1990 in Hanau) lives and works in Augsburg. She studied from 2013 to 2018 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Günther Förg and Matthias Dornfeld. She completed her studies as a master student with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. In 2019, the artist received the Leonard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize and participated in various artist-in-residence programs, including Kunstarkaden Kempten and Künstlerstadt Kalbe.
Esther Zahel's works, which are as much space-consuming as they are space-creating, travel with her. In the process, they grow and change. The finished state would also be an unloved standstill, for Zahel's interest is in the processual. She wants to explore how it continues at the edge of the pictures - painterly and narrative. Her painting tells stories in layers. The motifs develop over time like annual rings around the painter. They emerge as layers on the canvases of her enclosure. Complementary settings and overpaintings follow the respective use of space or refer to an earlier one. Pictures in the painting remind us of former guests, artist friends, who as a concrete motif, however, appear just as little as the lady of the house herself or other residents. Their presence is revealed solely in the traces of use on the furniture and objects, which thereby take on character. For it is precisely the small flaws, the traces of wear and tear, that lift them from the level of the trivial into private spheres.
With her work at the Kunstverein, Esther Zahel invites visitors to trespass, allows them to penetrate into the private sphere. She even turns the inside out: texts on the backs of her canvases do not allow the façade of her home to become an anonymous, perfect façade. Instead, they allow insights into the artist's world of thought. Emerging during the painterly work on the interior, the thoughts are now there for everyone to see - disordered, irreversible, as splinters or fleeting diary entries to a still never-ending process.
Esther Zahel (*1990 in Hanau) lives and works in Augsburg. She studied from 2013 to 2018 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Günther Förg and Matthias Dornfeld. She completed her studies as a master student with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. In 2019, the artist received the Leonard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize and participated in various artist-in-residence programs, including Kunstarkaden Kempten and Künstlerstadt Kalbe.
Peter Langenhahn:
"What is living about?" wonders Peter Langenhahn, who was asked by his partner Esther Zahel to join her on the Groundfloor Playground at the Kunstverein. "About being protected when you need it most." This is the case in sleep and in the intimate moments of life - the moments when people are vulnerable. By reducing all needs, living space could therefore be reduced to the ultimate shelter: the bed.
Langenhahn consistently implements this idea with his "amphibian caravan". A bed and some storage space underneath determine the dimensions of his supposedly mobile home made of birch wood, maritime pine and cotton fabric. The volume of the room has been reduced to the minimum necessary for getting up and changing clothes.
Those who want to embark on an imaginary journey in the Kunstverein with the "Thing", like the artist and his partner, are protected from the weather on land and water by the shell, which has been soaked in beeswax in an almost archaic process. The exit to the front allows the traveler to set foot on dry land even after traveling over bodies of water.
The starting point of the journeys of the artist, the son of a sailor, is always his "cosmos of do-it-yourself". In other words, the place from which all his recent works sprang. For in working out new craft techniques, Peter Langenhahn sees not only the chance to visualize his feelings for others in the best possible way. Through the experiences he makes in the process, these feelings also become tangible for himself, and through the development of appropriate tools, perhaps even reproducible for others.
Where will Peter Langenhahn's journey take him now? Who knows? In any case, the route will follow his longing for self-determination.
Peter Langenhahn (*1984 in Neuruppin) lives and works in Augsburg. He studied communication design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences until 2011 and was assistant to Hubertus Hamm in Munich in 2013. Since 2016 he has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. He was recently represented with his work in group exhibitions at the Galerie Klüser in Munich as well as at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei.
"What is living about?" wonders Peter Langenhahn, who was asked by his partner Esther Zahel to join her on the Groundfloor Playground at the Kunstverein. "About being protected when you need it most." This is the case in sleep and in the intimate moments of life - the moments when people are vulnerable. By reducing all needs, living space could therefore be reduced to the ultimate shelter: the bed.
Langenhahn consistently implements this idea with his "amphibian caravan". A bed and some storage space underneath determine the dimensions of his supposedly mobile home made of birch wood, maritime pine and cotton fabric. The volume of the room has been reduced to the minimum necessary for getting up and changing clothes.
Those who want to embark on an imaginary journey in the Kunstverein with the "Thing", like the artist and his partner, are protected from the weather on land and water by the shell, which has been soaked in beeswax in an almost archaic process. The exit to the front allows the traveler to set foot on dry land even after traveling over bodies of water.
The starting point of the journeys of the artist, the son of a sailor, is always his "cosmos of do-it-yourself". In other words, the place from which all his recent works sprang. For in working out new craft techniques, Peter Langenhahn sees not only the chance to visualize his feelings for others in the best possible way. Through the experiences he makes in the process, these feelings also become tangible for himself, and through the development of appropriate tools, perhaps even reproducible for others.
Where will Peter Langenhahn's journey take him now? Who knows? In any case, the route will follow his longing for self-determination.
Peter Langenhahn (*1984 in Neuruppin) lives and works in Augsburg. He studied communication design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences until 2011 and was assistant to Hubertus Hamm in Munich in 2013. Since 2016 he has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt. He was recently represented with his work in group exhibitions at the Galerie Klüser in Munich as well as at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei.
Events:
Saturday,
26.06.21,
17–21 h
26.06.21,
17–21 h
Opening of the exhibition
with Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn
with Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn
Saturday,
03.07.21,
17–22 h
03.07.21,
17–22 h
"Second opening" of the exhibition to the "Kleine Kunst Nacht" with Esther Zahel + Peter Langenhahn
