HIPKISS Pit Land (Against Sea), curated by Monika Koencke Amorosa, until March 29 at Delmes & Zander

Installation view of the Hipkiss-show "Pit Land (Against Sea)", Delmes & Zander, Cologne
Photo: Johannes Post

Hipkiss - Pit Land (Against Sea)

Image: Hipkiss, Capitule 11, 2018 (archive # 1139) mixed media on paper 42 x 40cm, Courtesy the artists / Delmes & Zander, Cologne 

Hipkiss

Pit Land (Against Sea)

Curated by Monika Koencke Amorosa

February 23 – March 29, 2019 

Opening: February 22, 6-9 pm

Working together as HIPKISS since their first encounter in the early 1980s, Alpha and Chris Mason (*both 1964) draw inspiration from seemingly disparate fields such as architecture, ornithology, punk, ecology, feminism, and entomology. Their work reflects a fascination with birds, landscapes (both human and natural), and the compositional elements of mathematics, a subtle balancing act between science and art. Addressing such themes as gender issues, politics, and sociology, their works are the visual transcription of a narrative born of an ongoing collaborative dialogue. Their meticulous drawing technique renders an organic texture which incorporates hidden discourses, private jokes, and fragments of the every day.

The central pillar of their latest project PIT LAND (AGAINST SEA) concerns the futility of a ‘battle’ - or even polarisation – between the two elements, both of which are fundamental and unavoidable. For this project, Hipkiss have chosen plant-inspired, rather than industrially themed motifs, including a handpicked selection of self-defensive kinds of weeds and wild plants such as Hogweed, Melancholy Thistle, Thornapple, Hedge Mustard - an instinctive response to the recent global reinforcement of patriarchy and the unpredictability of nature manifest in climate change. Using graphite, ink and gold leaf on paper, Hipkiss have opted for a vertical, totem or tower-like composition (with all its symbolism of the irrational, the man-made, the hubris that these might entail) and structured by a series of concentric elements that bring to mind the circular outlines of Robert Hooke’s 17th century microscopic observations as much as they recall the rotoreliefs of Marcel Duchamp. There is a clear homage to early botanical and natural history illustrators (Elizabeth Blackwell, Charles Plumier, Maria Merian) as well as pioneers and mavericks of photography (Anna Atkins’ cyanotype photograms and Blossfeldt's stripped-back masterpieces, for instance) – to all the women and men that freed the eye and mind to new perspectives and to new realities.

In this sense, PIT LAND (AGAINST SEA) can be seen as a response to the darkness, the misuse of power (physical, financial, political, religious) and the urge for destruction. It announces a gentler, less nihilistic revolution kindled by duality and partnership, a revolution which uses the best of humanity, male - female, dark - light, zero - sum, to conjure a new kind of strength that might restore biodiversity, the environment, and essentially dignity and equality within the human race.

The exhibition PIT LAND (AGAINST SEA) at Delmes & Zander explores the first part of the dichotomy within an extensive, ongoing project initiated by Hipkiss in 2018, and comprises 16 new works (Capitules, Instars, Imagoes).

* HIPKISS is the pseudonym of Alpha (*1964 in Widnes, UK) and Chris Mason (*1964 in Perivale, UK). The artists live and work in the south of France. Solo shows include Bulwark at The Drawing Center, New York, Drawings at INTUIT, Chicago and Mercury Springtime at John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan. Hipkiss have featured in group exhibitions at Tate Britain, London; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; La Maison Rouge, Paris; New Museum, New York; David Zwirner (System and Vision in collaboration with Delmes & Zander) and others. Works by Hipkiss are found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; FRAC Occitanie, Whitworth, Manchester and the Treger/Saint Silvestre Collection amongst others. Hipkiss are a three-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Award. Delmes & Zander has represented Hipkiss since 2005.
 
See more Information on delmes-zander.de

2018 White Columns Benefit Auction with works of HIPKISS and TICHY

Hipkiss, Bulwark No. 9, Detail, courtesy of the artists 

Miroslav Tichy untitled, undated, mixed media on photography, 13 x 18 cm

The Auction will be held on Friday, June 22nd at 91 Horatio Street, NYC

The event begins with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 7:00 p.m. This will then be followed by the live auction of selected lots, which will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m. The silent auction featuring works by more than 80 artists will close in stages shortly after the live auction.

For more information click here:

squareup.com/store/white-columns

whitecolumns.org/sections/exhibition

whitecolumns.org

"It is always a thrill to discover such fully realized art..."

Hipkiss, Bulwark #8 (detail), 2017,
graphite, silver ink, silver tape, and metal leaf on paper, 89 x 16"

For Artforum: 
Matthew Weinstein on HIPKISS Show 
April 12 - August 6 in NY 

"It is always a thrill to discover such fully realized art—Hipkiss’s Alpha and Chris Mason have been making work together since 1983. Bulwark #5, 2017, is an accumulation of doily-shaped tondos. Elegant cascading squiggles safeguard delicate branches within. The branches appear to be releasing pollen or grasping for tiny flecks of life: sustenance against our intrusions."

For more information click here:

artforum.com/picks/new-york/
artforum.com/

Hipkiss' solo museum show "Bulwark" at The Drawing Center, New York

Hipkiss, Bulwark #2, #3, #6, #8, and #9 from The Towers, 2017, Courtesy of the artist

The exhibition will run from April 06 - August 12, 2018

"Praised for their meticulously-detailed panoramic landscapes, Anglo-French artists Alpha and Chris Mason, known collectively as Hipkiss, have been collaborating for three decades on intricate drawings that interweave dystopian narratives with a personal lexicon of symbolic forms. Past works by Hipkiss chronicle fictional histories of warring clans, urban crusades, and quasi-apocalyptical societies."

For more information click here:

drawingcenter.org/hipkiss/
drawingcenter.org/

Adelhyd van Bender, Hipkiss, Miroslav Tichy and others are guests of Ebensperger Gallery

"Why the Sun", Hipkiss, 2012, mixed media on paper, 146 x 92 cm, Courtesy of Delmes & Zander

Ebensperger x Delmes & Zander in Salzburg,

from March 23rd - May 5th

We are happy to be guests of Ebensperger Gallery Salzburg with works by Adelhyd van Bender, Horst Ademeit, Miroslav Tichy, Type 42, Jesuys Christiano, Martin Erhard, Hipkiss, Margarethe Held, Aurel Iselstöger, Oswald Tchirtner, August Walla and Margret - Chronicle of an Affair.

For more information click here:

galerieebensperger.net

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