Alfred Steiner - Bleeding Afro

Gallery Poulsen præsenterer stolt Alfred Steiners første soloudstilling udenfor USA fredag den 2. november, 2012.

Udstillingens titel "Bleeding Afro" er inspireret af en tekst fra en Grateful Dead sang. Teksten er i stor udstrækning blevet misfortolket gennem tiden, så selv de mest "Die Hard” Grateful Dead fans kan have svært ved at genkende den.

Kendetegnende for Alfred Steiners kunstneriske univers er netop dette, at noget genkendeligt frit fortolkes og tillægges en ny mening.

I Steiners nye akvareller væver en overflod af omhyggeligt udførte genstande sig ind og ud mellem hinanden, og i et optisk trylleri bliver de til tegneseriefigurer eller andre genkendelige skikkelser fra populærkulturen.

I værkerne ses alt mellem himmel og jord, og valget af billedmaterialet er truffet ud fra formen på de komponenter, der udgør helheden. I den ellers så nuttede Pikachu figur fra Pokemon består kaninen af overraskende elementer, idet den primært består af maskuline komponenter såsom slips, cigar, peniser og viagra piller.

Der refereres ikke blot til det seksuelle; i Stewie, som vi kender fra Family Guy, er kendte kunstværker som Duchamps cykelhjul afbilledet og i Krusty the Clown fra The Simpsons er Richard Serra's gigantiske stålinstallation 'Torqued Ellipse' afbilledet. I tråd med traditionen af Ready Mades, skaber Alfred Steiner værker med billedmateriale, der allerede findes i verden og skaber nye værker af disse med perfektion i hans akvareller.

Billedmaterialet Alfred Steiner bruger til at bygge sine kompositioner ud fra kan ses som selvpålagte Rorschach tests. Eller kan, i overført betydning, sammenlignes med vores daglige besøg på Google, hvor vi fx springer fra at søge efter bageopskrifter til porno, til Wikipedia, til tv programmer til Politiken, hvor der med andres øjne ikke ville synes at være en rød tråd ved vores søgninger. Og dog, for det samlende element er én selv, ligesom i Alfred Steiners værker, hvor vi inviteres til at deltage i lægningen af det mentale puslespil og finde de skjulte betydninger, der måtte findes i hans værker (eller at opfinde ens helt egne).

Man skiftevis zoomer ind og ud af Alfred Steiners værker, hvor der er mange lag i spil; enten ser man helheden eller delene, de består af, men man ser aldrig de to på samme tid, hvorfor hans kunst udfordrer os og spiller os et puds.

Uanset hvad, forbered dig på en rejse ind i sindet ved mødet med Alfred Steiners værker.

Alfred Steiner debuterede i Gallery Poulsen i 2011 på udstillingen ”Bitches Brew” og har allerede opbygget en trofast samlerskare i Danmark, han er født i Ohio, USA i 1973. Han bor og arbejder i New York.

Han har ud over den kommende solo udstilling deltaget i følgende udstillinger i år:

Season Opener!, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Summer Group Exhibition 2012, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
Group Show 4, 101/Exhibit, Miami, FL
The Brucennial, New York, NY
Guilty / (Not) Guilty, Norte Maar, Brooklyn New York (curated by Sarah Schmerler)
Drawn To You, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Gallery Poulsen proudly invites you to Alfred Steiner’s First solo exhibition outside the U.S. Friday the 2nd of November, 2012.

The exhibition title "Bleeding Afro" is inspired by a lyric from a Grateful Dead song. The lyric is often misinterpreted, so even the most "die hard" Grateful Dead fans may have trouble recognizing it.

The essence of Alfred Steiner's artistic universe is exactly that, that something known is re-interpreted and thereby assigned a new meaning.

In Steiner's new watercolours an abundance of meticulously painted objects weave in and out of each other and in an optical wizardry they become cartoon characters or other recognizable characters from popular culture.

In the watercolours we meet known characters where the choice of imagery is made from the shape of the components that make up the whole. In the usual cute Pikachu character from Pokémon the rabbit is made of surprising elements, primarily masculine components such as ties, cigar, penises and Viagra pills.

However, Steiner's artwork not only refers to sexual imagery. In Stewie, the character we know from Family Guy, known artworks like Duchamp's bicycle wheel is pictured and in Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons Richard Serra's giant steel installation 'Torqued Ellipse' is pictured. Echoing the tradition of Ready Made´s, Alfred Steiner works with imagery that already exist in the world and create new artworks from these with perfection.

The imagery that Alfred Steiner applies to build his compositions can be seen as self-imposed Rorschach tests. Or perhaps, comparable to our daily visits to Google, where we may jump from searching for baking recipes to looking at porn, to Wikipedia, to looking at TV listings to reading the paper. If other people were to make sense of our searches on the web they may not be able to find the logic in these. However, as with Alfred Steiner's works the key to finding the logic or lack of this is oneself. In his artworks we are invited to participate in the laying of the mental puzzle and find the hidden meanings that may exist in his works (or inventing ones very own).

We alternate between zooming in and out of Alfred Steiner's works. We either see the whole or the parts that make up the work. We never see the two perspectives at once and therefore Steiner’s artworks challenges and plays tricks on us.

Prepare yourself for a journey into the mind when looking at Alfred Steiner's artworks.

Alfred Steiner debuted in Gallery Poulsen in 2011 at the exhibition "Bitches Brew" and has already built up a loyal crowd of gathers in Denmark, he was born in Ohio in 1973. He lives and works in New York.

He has in addition to the upcoming solo exhibition participated in the following exhibitions this year: