DC Open: What to see in Cologne (Part 3)
It's a wrap! Eventhough the event is over, the exhibitions go on. So here goes the last part of the DC Open series. This time, we are in my favorite artsy neighborhood: The Begisches Viertel.
DC Open 2023 was GOOD. Today, we conclude the series with the third part. If you don’t know what’s going on, you can read my tips for the city center here and the must-sees in the Komponisten-Viertel here.
Jody Korbach: Hans Schnier spielt nur noch Stadtteil-Feste
German “culture” if you want to call it that way is inherently quirky. Jody (Millenial, German) brings familiar rural kitsch into the gallery space: The Schwäbisch Hall fox mascot points at your reflection in the mirror of Sag mir wo du stehst (2021). Porcelain figurines of clowns appear throughout the exhibition. Food and beer stamps from a good ol’ Schützenfest arranged in patterns of any shooting club banner are the background for more German company logos and movie stars of our grandparents’ generation. The way Jody arranged two pieces on a typical wooden plank wall as if pulled out of a local Kneipe? Chef’s kiss.
The title-giving Hans Schnier is a character from the book The Clown (1965) by Nobel-prize-awarded writer Heinrich Böll (1917-1985): As a comedian in post-war Germany, everybody sees a clown in Hans. Though the real clowns are the passionate nazis who turned into supposedly law-abiding citizens basically overnight, or at least believed they did. Or maybe the clown is anyone who believes that people have a clean record...
Jody’s titles allude to crude pub humor. But the combo with the images becomes less funny the closer you look. The words “Kein Vergeben Kein Vergessen” (no forgiving, no forgetting) on Draußen vor der Tür (mein allerletzer Wille sind 6,2 Promille) (2023) in Gothic letters and the shooting club badges stitched on a carpet in 1000 und 1 Nacht (zoom!) (2021) creep up with a feeling that the hurt German pride slumbering underneath this countryside quirkiness is cooking up a dark phantasy waiting to be unleashed.
Martinetz, until October 13, 2023, Moltkestr. 81, 50674 Cologne
Ellen Antico: Wrestling with Angels
When Philomena Cunk asked “Which was more culturally significant: the Renaissance or Single Ladies by Beyoncé?” on the BBC, it should have been filmed in front of the paintings in this exhibit. Ellen (Millenial, Australian) sketches and paints human bodies with the enthusiasm and attention of a time in Western History when the body was again celebrated and an object of fascination. These living masses of people piled up on blank canvases are never brought to perfection, the drawing remains unfinished. It feels like watching the preparatory sketches of old Disney animations come to life. The show’s title beautifully alludes to the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel (Genesis 32:22-31). And even though the canvases explode in lines and movement, there is no sense of violence in this clash of bodies. I’d even claim that the expressions are dramatic, elegant, noble even.
Pop;68, until October 1, 2023, Bismarckstraße 68, 50672 Cologne
Masamitsu Shigeta: One Day Trip
Masamitsu (Millenial, Japanese) lives in New Jersey. He went to NYC for a day and captured the spirit of the city across the Hudson River at different hours. His work finishes with the frame, not with the painting: People crossing a street on a late afternoon in Walking people 2 (2023) become a motive on a poststamp. The frame of Walking through restaurant (2023) picks up the light garlands from the busy streetfood market at night. It looks like the frame of A tree at Christopher st. (2023) is a shy little guy who accidentally almost cut the space of the prominent tree and took a way around it. A usually chaotic, imposing city suddenly becomes peaceful and slow like the seashore after a storm.
GAA Gallery, until September 16, 2023, Antwerpener Straße 4, 50672 Cologne
Patricia Renee’ Thomas: A Joined Hush
In Upstate (2023), Patricia Renee’ (Gen Z, American) paints herself with her three sisters. The four women surrounded by two trees and what looks like the garbage left on the frontyard of 4 July celebrations remind me a lot of Vignette #15 (2014) by Kerry James Marshall (Baby Boomer, American). The placement of the bodies alludes to The Three Graces (1630-1635) by the Flemish Baroque Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). Although Peter’s beauties are carelessly frolicking in the woods, the women in Patricia Renee’s version are on the verge of tears, pensive, and annoyed. The pink poster with “No Trespassing” written on it adds to that strange feeling that something is off.
Patricia Renee’ described her upbringing as protected from the harshness and realities of the world out there. It was only when she grew up to be a young woman, she realized that the color of her skin did play a role in how she was treated by others. She began using art as a way to give space to the pent-up rage and betrayal. The black glossy skin of the women she paints is enhanced by the bright colorful backgrounds. Saintly tears of a martyr roll down the cheeks in She’ll Be Fine (2023) while the person in Did You Hear? (2023) cries tears of panic with eyes wide open as if in crippling disbelief over what is told.
GAA Gallery, until September 16, 2023, Antwerpener Straße 4, 50672 Cologne
DC Open took place across numerous galleries, institutions and off-spaces in Cologne and Düsseldorf from 01-03 Sept 2023.
Thank you for reading! If you liked my 3-Part DC Open series, please let me know through a like, comment, or referral. :)
See you soon!!!
Jennifer
The Gen Z Art Critic