- Venue
- Haunch Of Venison
- Location
- London
Haunch of Venison brings Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie’s first solo exhibition in Britain, until the 25th July 2009. Situated in the mass expanse of the Western Gallery, Ghenie’s work adds another successful exhibition to the Haunch of Venison’s repertoire, solidifying its reputation as a house of leading contemporary artists, which primarily focuses on post war and European artists.
Darkness for an Hour brings together a collection of work by Ghenie that succeeds in portraying his continuing fascination and interest in the exploration of painting, enthralment with European history as well as Dada, with a recurrent theme running throughout this exhibition of Duchamp. The narrative fixtures of each painting, which also represent Ghenie’s interest in cinematic langue and aesthetic seen in his previous works ‘Flight into Egypt’ (2008), Dig and Hide (2007) and ‘They say this place does not exist’ (2007), where the figures appear to be pre occupied with the narrative fixture, each homed into the space Ghenie provided them, provides the viewer with a visual and aesthetic feast. His dark portrayals with a limited colour palate of dark and sombre hues, drips of paint sprawling themselves through each canvas, captures an echo of remembrance. The presence of Duchamp in numerous paintings adds a new and ongoing theme in Ghenie’s work, which explores Dada and displacement, furthering the connection with his previous work. Duchamp in Darkness for an hour is seen in a coffin, his funeral and as a blind man and the death of Dada renders the painter as a hopeless figure.
His paintings are put together though an excavation of mass media, correlating a shared history with his viewers who consume the same mass stories. Yet his paintings are neither nostalgic nor sickeningly emblematic. Each painting is open to a myriad of interpretations; of a past that haunts the presence, of remembrance so one does not forget. They do not hold upon a singular meaning that imposes itself on the viewer, rather, they impart and depict an interest, which situates these paintings into a milieu of aesthetically appealing and singular paintings that cultivate in an exhibition that launches Ghenie’s work in Britain. The exhibition pulls together his repertoire of interests and does not fall short of fulfilling each one of them.
And it is for this reason that the paintings do not get lost in the mass of space available in the Western Gallery, broken up by walls and entrances for the viewer to walk through and find another piece of Ghenie’s work. The space gives Ghenie’s work the respect they deserve, inviting the viewer to walk around, spend time with each painting in a continuous view of each one. Even the smaller portraits are given their own space to sing. These smaller pieces on an expanse of white wall bring you closer in so that you are at a level where you can see the painstaking etching and paint drips across the canvas, immersing the viewers and sinking them due to his dexterity and subversion of perspective. Each emotion that Ghenie experiences while each painting is evident through each brush stroke and technique. His gloriously dark technique excavates his interest in Dada.
The similarities between Ghenie and Francis Bacon are ever present with Ghenie’s techniques creating a haunting yet deeply absorbing place. His comic figures of Laurel and Hardy create an oeuvre of comedy, yet unsettling through the perspective and displacement of the figures, creating a world that is visually distressing, yet the technical skill of Ghenie ensures that the viewer is pulled further in rather then walking forth out of horror or distaste.
