Delmes & Zander at INDEPENDENT NY, 2017

DISKO GIRLS (Anonymous), untitled, 1970s-80s, crayon on paper, Courtesy Delmes & Zander

Delmes & Zander presents

DISKO GIRLS (Anonymous)

at INDEPENDENT, NY 2-5 March 2017

 

At this year's edition of the Independent New York, Delmes & Zander will present Disko Girls, an anonymous portfolio comprising 50 erotic drawings, all of which completed on DIN A4 format sheets of paper (8,3 x 11,7 in) with crayon and pencil. Despite thorough research it has not been possible to identify the artist behind these drawings, found in Germany in the late 1990's. It is assumed that the portfolio represents only a mere fraction of a complete oeuvre dedicated to a self-same theme pursued over a longer period of time. The name Disko Girls has been attributed to the work out of respect for the unnamed and unknown author. Delmes & Zander will show these works in the unquestionable belief that the intrinsic artistic process, the unique quality and the distinctive signature of the works clearly define and validate them in their artistic value.

The work can be dated back to the 1970s/ 1980s and clearly resorts to both the aesthetics and the iconography of a pop cultural language rooted in its time. Music plays a crucial role as does the aura of the female pop star with her microphone as seen on television (the most popular German music television series was the ZDF-Hitparade depicted in the drawings) or in a magazine, or the pop fan illustrated in her bedroom, listening to her favorite songs on her tape recorder or flicking through her vinyl record collection, by the imagination of her creator. In a curious psychedelic visual realm fuelled by naive fandom and populated by sexy girls, the pastel worlds of Disko Girls (Anonymous) epitomize desire, glamour and candy-colored fantasies at times reminiscent of the work of Aurie Ramirez. Disko Girls (Anonymous)has recently been included into the gallery’s program and will be introduced for the very first time to the public here at the Independent in New York.

Delmes & Zander will show at the Independent Brussels in April (19.-23.) featuring works by keyboard rock star icon Wesley Willis in an exhibition entitled Rock'N'Roll Superhighway picking up once again on the theme of music at the heart of Disko Girls (Anonymous) the gallery's presentation at the Independent New York earlier in the year.

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