17 Nov 2011

SEBASTIAN NEEB at Berlin Art Projects

Berlin Art Projects is pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition by Sebastian Neeb on Thursday, 17 November, from 7 – 9 p.m. Titled History Eraser Button, the gallery will be showing work by the artist.

Large-scale works on canvas form the focus of the exhibition, which is completed with smaller cabinet pieces on wood and photographs. Sebastian Neeb paints, photographs and builds objects; powerful in terms of both materials and color, the work is also characterized by a richness of detail that makes it impossible for the eye to grasp it at first glance. The works are interdependent. The stories they tell us seem familiar at first, though even at second glance, the familiar gives way to the mysterious, the fantastic and almost abysmal. What happens in the Neeb paintings?

A wide variety of characters, people, animals and fantasy creatures are compacted in the narrowest, usually circumscribed space. Who are these creatures? Heroes? Anti-heroes? Children sit huddled together in a littered apartment ('The Naughty Children', 2011). An already quite deranged, drunken mob crowds a wooden barricade ('The Righteous', 2011). In another barricade, an old woman is watching two fighting dogs while the room fills with smoke ('Smoke is Drawing In', 2011). One can only guess what happens in these paintings, though you can sense that it is anything but good.

The smaller cabinet pieces are painted on a wood that genuinely flows into the scenarios. In these, the artist himself makes an appearance. Masterfully citing other well-known art historical motifs such as Rembrandt's 'Andromeda', he immediately saws them apart again ('Andromeda Saved from Cetos', 2011). Tragic and dramatic moments are played over with subtle irony ('New Noses for Painting', 2011). The artist acts as a 'savior', though it remains unclear who or what is in need of rescue.

Unlike the paintings, the photographs stem from Neeb's personal surroundings and provide a point of comparison for his own reality. They complement and cause his painting – a kind of search for clues to the excessive battles of color and characters. Given the overarching title 'Woods', they show miniature events, relationships and developments in the circle of individuals that surrounds him.

Sebastian Neeb's work always investigates the banalities and lows, happiness and failure of human interactions. The tragicomic image-realities that develop as a result are difficult to categorize either chronologically or in terms of space. Hi(stories) are captured and staged just as often as personal experience.

SEBASTIAN NEEB │Studies Visual Art at the UdK Berlin with, among others, Daniel Richter, Anselm Reyle and Robert Lucander │ 2009 Master Class with Daniel Richter and Robert Lucander │ Works have been presented in group exhibitions in Berlin, Kassel, Düsseldorf and Leipzig among others │ CURRENT EXHIBITIONS │ Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales Habana in Cuba 25 NOV -16 DEC │ Design Miami Basel / Florida, USA 30. NOV - 4 DEC │ lives and works in Berlin.