STEFFI WEIGEL / SCHLACHTENBUMMLER / October 2 – November 7, 2009

Exhibition views (please click on the image to enlarge):

Steffi Weigel's "Schlachtenbummler" (: battle walkers) are timeless. Some of them have long since finished their battles, others stand at the very beginning of their lives. They all have stories to tell, stories without regard to time – that is to say, to life or death.

As a painter, Steffi Weigel asks herself how loud or soft, how sharp or out of focus, how accidental or controlled the image may be so not to lose its vitality. She makes use of the moment of conception and does not edit her characters needlessly. Only in doing so does she stay true to her intuition, and likewise preserves their distinct nativeness and wondrousness.

So rise green-tinted portraits from photographs of people who lived long ago, their faces gently contrasting with the white of the paper, so delicately that they are more of water than paint. With them corporality is above all sensation. Alongside, Steffi Weigel shows scenes that confuse: pink skies that drop like udders toward the earth and children chaperoned by aging lions.

In the exhibition "Schlachtenbummler," we witness life and death being brought together and the body as an expression of energy and emotion. Much akin to Butoh, whose founder Tatsumi Hijikata advises us: "Don't forget to make the attempt to coexist with your dead. Then your meals will be spiced with the secret flavor of death and taste better than ever before."

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or by phone. We look forward to welcoming you as our guest.

Yours sincerely,
Denise Jänig & Sonja Ostermann

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Opening documented by the Berlin Artcontacter:
www.berlinerkunstkontakter.de