Bernd Ribbeck Exhibition
Harris Lieberman
This event has ended.
The first U.S. solo exhibition of German artist Bernd Ribbeck, small paintings and works on paper build intricate geometric structures with nods to Modernist and ornamental design. Pairing non-traditional artistic mediums like ballpoint pen and marker with acrylic and varnish, Ribbeck introduces a bold, gestural energy to his paintings on MDF. Additive and deductive processes are a central element of Ribbeck’s paintings. His methodical building and sanding of layers give his mandala-like forms a surprising luminosity, as vibrant marks in red, purple and turquoise erode into the colored grounds hidden just beneath. As in the work of visionary artist and healer Emma Kunz, these complex systems evoke metaphysical and even spiritual valences.
In his drawings, Ribbeck works India ink onto wet paper, continuously soaking his surfaces to produce beautifully stained images. Originally wrought in brilliant reds, yellows and blues, the interlocking ovals, almonds and diamonds of the artist’s drawings dissipate into faded washes, though this process, coming to resemble mystical icons and art-historical relics. Vocabularies of drawing and painting enter both of Ribbeck’s bodies of work, and the interplay of color fields and systematic mark-making suggest new delineations for each medium, built upon Ribbeck’s thoughtful reappraisal of the legacy of geometric abstraction, as well as his arresting visual style.
Bernd Ribbeck was born in 1974 in Cologne. He graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and currently lives and works in Berlin.
Media
Schedule
from October 17, 2009 to November 14, 2009