“HÄUSER – HOUSES”

The Boisserée Gallery has presented its new exhibition proposal “HÄUSER – HOUSES” which proposes the concept of “house” as its main leit motiv. The curatorial proposal takes a visual and conceptual tour of the various visions in which artists have assumed the idea of ​​the house, its development over the centuries from the original conception of the cave as a domestic space to the most contemporary views that deconstruct the concept itself.

There is no doubt that this has been a thematic line worked by innumerable artists, defining a significant form of expression from the 16th century onwards in painting. “In the first centuries of its genesis, architectural painting concentrated mainly on portraying buildings and conveying their meaning. Since the second half of the 20th century in particular, houses have become the stage for the expression of emotions and scenarios, as well as a means of critical treatment with the forms of human existence.”[1]

 

 

To this day, there are various notions that have been narrated through art, taking the house as an element of inspiration; ideas that range from the architectural, the spatial, the game with perspective to the most contemporary notions that already incorporate the relationship of the individual with it, as well as proposals that delight in the subjective, the symbolic and the surreal

So for the “HÄUSER – HOUSES” exhibition, the house is conceived as a pictorial, photographic and artistic motif, becoming the common denominator that unites each of the pieces, which go through different supports, styles, and modes of representation. The exhibition features a selection of works by renowned international artists including José María Mellado, Josef Albers, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Peter Doig, Ralph Fleck, Tom Hammick, Patrick Hughes, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Alex Katz, Imi Knoebel, Julian Opie, Mauricio Salcedo, Franziskus Wendels, Tom Wesselmann, and Richard Woods.

 

 

Within this group of relevant artists from different generations of the art scene, José María Mellado stands out. And it is that there are not a few photographs of Mellado where the house becomes a leading element. We could say that it is one of the reasons that acquires a particular symbolism in his works, and in this case, those selected for the exhibition are directly related to his curatorial proposal. Ghost House (Iceland, 2007), House with trees inside, donkey and dogs (Peru, 2008) and Shack on the rock (Iceland, 2015) are connected with that precise look that the author leaves in his photographs: the trace, the footprint human in contrast to a fertile nature that always ends up recovering its place, time and its exquisite look at the reality that surrounds us. Mellado goes through all those contexts, containing their details translated into images that later become enigmatic, precisely because of the subtlety that each of them transmits.

 

 

The exhibition can be visited until August 13 at the Galerie Boisserée, located at Drususgasse 7-11, D – 50667 Cologne (near the Cathedral, WDR, Wallrafplatz and the Museum of Applied Arts), from Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. h and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Everyone is invited! Digital catalog of the “HÄUSER – HOUSES” exhibition available at

https://www.galerie-boisseree.com/images/artists/Opie/HOUSES_2022.pdf

 

[1]Boisseree Gallery. Press text available at

https://www.galerie-boisseree.com/images/artists/Opie/Pressetext_HOUSES_2022.pdf