Wolfgang Ullrich

Gräfin, Heilige, Madonna, First Lady des Dritten Reichs: Die erstaunliche Karriere einer Sandsteinstatue des Naumburger Doms.

Christian Hellmich (b. 1977) creates works characterised by gestural abstraction and the asymmetrical arrangement of planes of colour, which are used to develop a kind of geometric grid pattern that dissects the pictorial space. This avoids any uniform perspective so that spaces penetrate into one another, and various image planes appear simultaneously. The fragments of motifs that Hellmich assembles are taken from his extensive image archive of photographs, magazine cuttings, Internet sources, postcards, and more. His approach is shaped by society’s handling of images in today’s mediatised age. References to architectural structures and comic-like shapes trigger associations without being clearly categorisable, thus rousing interest in their assumed decryption. Text in English and German.

Increasingly pressing global political and societal challenges are always also rewarding subjects of creative engagement, and sometimes artists devise anticipative approaches to real-world problems. Harte Zeiten-- Ciezkie Czasy is a cooperative venture launched by K nstlerbund Baden-W rttemberg; Port25-- Raum f r Gegenwartskunst, Mannheim; and Galeria Miejska bwa, Bydgoszcz, Poland. It showcases works by altogether ten Polish and ten German contemporary artists. Putting the principle that art knows no boundaries into practice, the publication, with statements from Wolfgang Ullrich, Joanna Kiliszek, Schamma Schahadat, and others as well as documentation of the symposium held in September 2021, inspires forward-looking reflections on the conditions in which cultures thrive and similarities and differences between the two countries and beyond.

Wie leben wir mit verschiedenen Produkten und warum wollen wir sie überhaupt besitzen? Wer und was wirkt bei ihrer Entwicklung alles mit? Wolfgang Ullrich zeigt, dass sich unsere Konsumkultur verändert hat und was wir dadurch über unsere Werte und Wünsche erfahren können.

Moderne Kunst im Umfeld von Geld und Macht: Wie konnte sie zu einem der wichtigsten Statussymbole unserer Zeit werden? Und was sagt dies über die Kunst selbst aus - sowie über diejenigen, die sich ihrer bedienen? Wolfgang Ullrich gibt überraschende Antworten.