deutschemalerei zweitausenddrei

15.01.2003 — 13.04.2003

The exhibition “deutschemalereizweitausenddrei” (=german painting two thousand and three) alludes to the contemporary situation in its title, which is not necessarily to say it advances a radical counterprogram to classical discourses of painting. Nor does it set out to sketch current themes and trends, or to identify a national phenomenon, which painting most certainly isn’t. The title’s specifically German element is more a response to the needs and social circumstances that have given rise to painting’s present (return to) popularity, and to the strategies young artists in particular are developing to meet this. The focus is on individual approaches that seem symptomatic at present insofar as they strive to occupy up-to-date positions, adopting diverse strategies to integrate painting’s historical potential for critique and reflection.
Aside from the general “Back to painting” trend, it is not only numerous figurative positions that evince a “politicisation” of the discourse of painting; more abstract positions also increasingly try to analyse what formal significance painting may still have after conceptual art’s interrogations, and how questions as to the picture’s limits and outward-directedness can be posed anew via categories such as ornament and decoration.
The exhibition presented over 50 current positions of predominantly younger German or in Germany living artists. Numerous works were realized directly locally in the Frankfurter Kunstverein as wall painting.

Logo by Liam Gillick

Curator: Nicolaus Schafhausen, Co-Curator: René Zechlin

Participating Artists: Tomma Abts, Yesim Akdeniz Graf, Kai Althoff, Monika Baer, Frank Bauer, Dirk Bell, Ümit Bilgi, Henning Bohl, André Butzer, Thomas Eggerer, Tim Eitel, Jesko Fezer / Axel John Wieder, Lutz Fezer, Christian Flamm, Carsten Fock, Caroline von Grone, Katharina Grosse, Gabi Hamm, Sebastian Hammwöhner / Uwe Henneken / Dani Jakob / Gabriel Vormstein, Klaus Hartmann, Eberhard Havekost, Thilo Heinzmann, Andreas Hofer, Sergej Jensen, Johannes Kahrs, Kiron Khosla, Jutta Koether, Hendrik Krawen, Kalin Lindena, Dietmar Lutz, Antje Majewski, Bernhard Martin, Rupprecht Matthies, Jonathan Meese, Birgit Megerle, Stephan Melzl, Klaus Merkel, Stefan Müller, Martin Neumaier, Frank Nitsche, Silke Otto-Knapp, Susanne Paesler, Gunter Reski, Anselm Reyle, Thomas Scheibitz, Tilo Schulz, Andreas Schulze, Eva Schwab, Markus Selg, Torsten Slama, Johannes Spehr, Lee Thomas Taylor, Wawrzyniec Tokarski, Corinne Wasmuht, Thomas Werner, Johannes Wohnseifer, aniela Wolfer, Katharina Wulff, Amelie von Wulffen

A catalogue with a text of Ingo Niermann has been published for the exhibition (out of print!).