Katz Contemporary Presents Works by Elisabeth Llach and Luc Andrié

Written by Kurt Ohlendorff Thursday, 19 January 2012 21:55

Zürich, Switzerland.- Katz Contemporary is pleased to present "Elisabeth Llach / Luc Andrié: Silberregen", on view at the gallery from January 18th through March 17th. The exhibition features works by Elisabeth Llach (born 1970 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland) and Luc Andrié (born 1954 in Pretoria, South Africa), both of whom live and work in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and are members of the artists group Makrout Unité. Red or black long hair, red lips, black high heels - Elisabeth Llach has mastered the visual vocabulary of clichéd feminine attributes and dedicates her work solemnly to the feminine - the results are uniquely painted and expressive portraits of women in acrylic on paper. She finds inspiration in fashion magazines, books, advertisements and found images from art history and transfers these visuals to a new context in her works - they get combined, deformed or even disected. Llach's skillful and subtle play with lighting and staging the depicted figures in a theater-like environment give her works an underlying surreal character:

The artist disassembles and ironicizes the world of standardized beautiful illusion, which at times causes a morbid universe to appear as seen in her most recent landscape formatted series “Vagues“. Elisabeth Llach's plate-series is titled “Clara“ - in reference to the pianist Clara Haskill. Haskill died when she accidentally fell down a staircase, trying to protect her hands rather than her head. This vulnerability is reflected in the fragility of the ceramics plates and taken further in the presence and language of the stick as a symbol of support, of power and fantasy. In this series, Llach follows the depiction of the woman in an even more radical way: While the feminine figures remind the viewer of cabaret performers, the artist immediately scatters the association through the skull- or mask-like faces and additional physical deformations that swiftly makes them fade away through the bright background of the ceramics plate into an almost mystical surrounding. Her bold usage of fantasy lets Llach succeed in showing images that otherwise would only take place in secrecy - secret attractions, forbidden seductions and erotic temptations. In addition, the focus on the classic game of self-discovery charges the portraits with magic and takes them to a dream world. Elisabeth Llach studied at École cantonale d'art in Lausanne. Llach's work has been on display at Katz Contemporary as part of the group show “Attraits Clandestins“ (2010). Her works were also shown in the exhibition “Alles wird gut / Tout ira bien“ at the Musée des Beaux-Arts Lausanne and the Villa Flor in S-chanf, where Llach was awarded with the Prix du Jury Accrochage in 2009. Additionally, she has taken part in several group shows in both the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland.

Luc Andrié uses photographs as the inspiration of his acrylic works, focusing only on portraits and vanitas-immanent objects when choosing his subjects. His explicit depictions of the figurative contain traces of morbidity, thus leading the viewer from something initally harmless into an abyss and causing the seemingly familiar images to suddenly appear foreign. Andrié skillfully plays with the presence of the human: Through the repitive depiction of the artist?s body he succeeds in stressing the importance of viewing in art. The delicate, often glaze-like way of painting contrasts very strongly with the artist's choice of motive. In addition, the excessive usage of light and the monochrome colour palette opens up a 'new room' in the works, simultaneously stimulating the viewer's imagination. The often erotically charged portraits almost seem to be caught in the canvas thus are translated to a new language of the feel of the space and are liberated. The decorative, time-bound objects support this imaginary vision. This way Andrié successfully lifts the initally perceived shadow from the canvas and uncovers previously hidden things. Luc Andrié's work was on display in solo exhibition in Western Switzerland and Paris as well as in group shows in Maputo, Mozambique - in collaboration with ProHelvetia -, in the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-arts Lausanne and in the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (Mamco) in Geneva.


Katz Contemporary was founded and initiated by Frédérique Hutter in 2008 and concentrates primarily on contemporary art. The gallery shows on the one hand emerging artists, where their support and promotion is an essential goal, and on the other, artists who already have established on the international scene. Thus, one of the aspects of the program is to confront works by young artists with those of established names, ranging from painting, installation to photography. Besides this, the gallery intends to regularly invite prominent artists from abroad and give them the opportunity to have a solo show, most often for the first time in Switzerland. Katz Contemporary is located in a 200m2 space on the ground floor of a building called "Haus zur Katz" in the heart of Zurich, only a few minutes away from Paradeplatz and Bahnhofstrasse. The architectonical partition of the gallery enables to have two exhibition spaces related by a corridor; the front room opens to the bustling Talstrasse, while the quiet side faces the Sihl River. The basement is used as a "show room", where young artists are exhibited independently from the current exhibitions. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.katzcontemporary.com

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~