Galerie Biesenbach - Our Story
Cologne-based gallery for contemporary art, founded in 2012 and run by its owner Stéphane Biesenbach.
Bemerkungen
The (analogue) year 2021 at the gallery in review – part 1/8: Already started in November 2020, the fifth solo exhibition by our Japanese artist Hideaki Yamanobe was still on view until 16 January, the gallery being closed to lockdown regulations though. More information to be found in our exhibition archive on galerie-biesenbach.de.
In the following an exhibition review by Oliver Tepel on "Hideaki Yamanobe: Light on Bright" in Köln Galerien A-Z, November 2020:
GOLDEN NOVEMBER
“A time of quiet openings. […]
The season began with the walk up to the Biesenbach Gallery, which was well ventilated in the surprisingly mild climate. Despite the early darkness, it seemed almost like a late summer evening, only quieter. No voices or birdsong disturbed the contemplative calm of Hideaki Yamanobe's works. In this way, one could get the impression of hearing music from his works on the piano motif. Graphically abstracting, somewhat related to synthetic cubism, the surfaces take on a life of their own, bringing whirl and restlessness into the sparse elegance of the works. In "Climax – Stringendo Ver. No. 1", horizontal lines run like furrows through the pictorial space, which is reminiscent of clay covered with icing. Fine flaking and cloud-like progressions of the white layer create a static restlessness, which is not tamed by these furrows when viewed up close, but is nevertheless guided.
A similar technique in "Overtone – Two Feelings" leads to an almost tilting moment, which conveys the feelings not only in the contrasting colours, but also in the graphic effect that makes one look at the work constantly in alternating directions from diagonally right to diagonally left. In the titular "Light on Bright" works, it is once again the substance that fascinates, as paint appears mixed with wax, something that could not be created in this way – but with acrylic and sand. But it is not abstract art that reduces itself to the technical. From the shadowy image as in "Horizon" to the allegorical "Two Lives", in which two lines, like ears of corn in a field, tear open the white layer of paint, one looks into life, silent art with a subtle sound."
Our current exhibition ABSTRACT / 3 / STRUCTURE features sculptural / textile / painterly works by (counter-clockwise from top left): Ivan De Menis, Minh Dung Vu and Douglas Witmer.
On display until 15 January; gallery winter break from 24 December 2021 to 4 January 2022.
Swipe left or check link in bio for more or DM/email to inquire about pricing/availability of works!
Pictured:
@ivandemenis
Tessera 1EE/130, 2016/2018
tissue, pigments, polystyrene, epoxy resin on wood
26 x 19 x 14,5 cm
@minhdung.vu
Encounter, 2021
acrylic, silk, sewn canvas
66 x 55 cm
@dgelless
untitled, 2021
black gesso and acrylic on canvas
30,5 x 23 cm
Our current online solo exhibition “Granítico” by Sergio Femar (born 1990 in Galicia, lives and works in Berlin and Galicia) features new paintings, assemblages and works on paper by the Spanish artist. Go see it on our website: picture gallery, viewing room and web shop available by following the link in our bio! Or DM/email to inquire about pricing/availability of works.
Our current online solo exhibition “Granítico” by Sergio Femar (born 1990 in
Galicia, lives and works in Berlin and Galicia) features new paintings, assemblages and works on paper by the Spanish artist. Go see it on our website: picture gallery, viewing room and web shop available by following
the link in our bio! Or DM/email to inquire about pricing/availability of works.
Pictured:
@femarsergio
Gone, 2020
oil and acrylic on canvas
35 x 27 cm
Works by Ivan De Menis, Minh Dung Vu and Douglas Witmer currently on view at the gallery – exhibition ABSTRACT / 3 / STRUCTURE until 15 January 2022, link in bio! DM or email to inquire!!
Works by Ivan De Menis, Minh Dung Vu and Douglas Witmer currently on view at the gallery – exhibition ABSTRACT / 3 / STRUCTURE until 15 January 2022, link in bio! DM or email to inquire!!
@ivandemenis #ivandemenis #italianartist @minhdung.vu #minhdungvu #vietnameseartist @dgelless #douglaswitmer #americanartist #artiststowatch #emergingartist #abstractart #wallsculpture #structures #reductiveart #nonobjectiveart #sculpturalobject #paintingnow #betweenpaintingandsculpture #textileart #contemporarypainting #minimalart #postminimalism #galeriebiesenbach #collage #sewncanvas #contemporaryart #zeitgenössischekunst #abstraktekunst #koelnkultur #cologneart #k1galerienkoeln #artscene
Our current online solo exhibition “Granítico” by Sergio Femar (born 1990 in Galicia, lives and works in Berlin and Galicia) features new paintings, assemblages and works on paper by the Spanish artist. Go see it on our website: picture gallery, viewing room and web shop available by following the link in our bio!
Pictured:
@femarsergio
Estado de alarma 2, 2020/2021
oil on canvas
27 x 22 cm
Paintings (black gesso and acrylic on canvas, various sizes – swipe left for more) by American artist Douglas currently available and on view at the gallery: our 3-person exhibition ABSTRACT/3/STRUCTURE is still on display until 15 January 2022. Follow link in bio or DM/email for more information.
About:
For over two decades, Douglas Witmer @dgelless (*1971 in Wi******er, Virginia, lives and works in Philadelphia) has steadily pursued a personal inquiry into the materiality of the painted object, refining his processes within the framework of reductive abstract painting. His elemental compositional structures are activated by sensuous colours and various improvised gestural and incidental actions. His ongoing interest is establishing a visual place that offers someone an open invitation for a personal experience of seeing and feeling.
Compelled by issues of perception in terms of the viewer’s relationship to and connection with art, Douglas Witmer thrives on the very experience of art. Emphasizing elements such as materiality and commodification, Witmer raises essential issues in his dynamic body of work that can launch valuable conversations with his audience. By doing so, Witmer enlivens his work and turns it into a conversation piece for the contemporary generation.
Witmer has said: “In the 21st century, I see my work as offering a clear alternative in a visual culture dominated by speed, layering, and complexity. I do not believe my work requires any prerequisite knowledge beyond what you bring to it. My hope is that it can activate the sense that you simply feel yourself seeing. I like to think of that kind of moment as clear, pure, innocent, and solitary. And if you can get to it, then you have, in a way, started an experiential engine for yourself, and your thoughts can begin to move in uniquely personal directions.”
This speaks to a sense of the artist’s personal history having been raised in the Mennonite culture of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania with deep connections to simplicity, peace-making, and humility.
Works (swipe left) by Minh Dung Vu – recipient of the Award of Recognition by the STRABAG Artward International in 2020 – currently available and on view at the gallery: our 3-person exhibition ABSTRACT/3/STRUCTURE is still on display until 15 January 2022. Follow link in bio or DM/email for more information.
About:
At Galerie Biesenbach, the young artist @minhdung.vu (*1995 in Vietnam), who lives in Leipzig and studies at the HGB (Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig), is showing a selection of new works. His reduced, abstract compositions show a subtlety that Vu creates by means of minimal interventions. Finely painted and specially dyed fabrics such as silk are sewn to the canvas and linen by the artist, thus expanding the classical concept of painting. His fascination with a wide variety of fabrics and textiles (all deriving from his home country) and their mutability are the starting point for his works. Depending on its thickness and structure, fabric behaves differently and can be stretched and worked in different ways. Vu blends colours and shapes with playful ease, yet precisely and harmoniously in his works.
Works by Ivan De Menis currently available and on view at the gallery:
3-person exhibition ABSTRACT/3/STRUCTURE still up until 15 January
2022. Follow link in bio or DM/email for more information.
About:
@ivandemenis (*1973) studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. He lives and works in Treviso near Venice.
Between painting and sculpture, De Menis generously covers his work surfaces with paint, working in thick layers, allowing the highly pigmented epoxy
resin to run down the sides of the fabric covered wooden fundament of his objects. In the series of wall sculptures “Tessera” (map), he produces mainly small-format, rectangular or square picture objects that develop an intense colour and luminosity, giving an idea of the artist's working process, as the various layers appear visible at the sides. The appeal of
his work is shown in the contrast of an almost silky smooth surface and the rough sides, marked by colour streaks and drops and peeled layers of paint.
De Menis’ works can be found in numerous private and public collections in his home country and abroad.
Our current online solo exhibition “Granítico” by Sergio Femar (born 1990 in Galicia, lives and works in Berlin and Galicia) features new paintings, assemblages and works on paper by the Spanish artist. Go see it on our website: picture gallery, viewing room and web shop available by following the link in our bio!
About:
“Influenced by the nature of the street art style, his work is very aware of the matter that composes it as well as its origins. Sergio does not have a fixed idea in his mind before starting to work. It is the material that comes and connects with him. The artist observes the suggestions and lets
the work flow itself. As a result, spontaneity becomes a key element when understanding the process, the features of the physical support, the colour bound to the shape or the three-dimensionality.
His project needs to be connected to current times, the outside: the painting tries to represent the present moment, daily images that cross each other, objects he finds and transforms. Sergio believes in second opportunities when it comes to work with materials. We live in a society that consumes “things” at a fast speed pace where the existing and available resources are very exploitable. This is where Sergio’s work moulds to the environment and it is complemented with it as a manner to connect to the ever-changing world we live in.”
Pictured:
@femarsergio
Granítico, 2020
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas
160 x 120 cm
