ART-PREVIEW:My Abstract World
Over the past 30 years, Thomas Olbricht has put together one of the most extensive private collections in Europe. The collection encompasses works from the early 16th Century Contemporary art.The Olbricht Collection and other international private art collections have found in me Collectors Room Berlin a permanent exhibition space in which to showcase their works ever since it opened in May 2010.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: me Collectors Room/Stiftung Olbricht Archive
The exhibition “My Abstract World” brings together a selection of 350 Abstract works by 90 both established and emerging different artists drawn from Thomas Olbricht Collection, at the same time, with the installation of new seating arrangements, Thomas Olbricht is transforming the exhibition spaces into a multi-sensory experience. This allows the exhibition visitor to relax while delving more deeply into the artworks on display and the reading materials or music. The exhibition brings together a selection of well-known artists, like: Bernard Frize, Joseph Marioni and Katharina Grosse to representatives of a younger generation, including Ali Banisadr, Paul Fägerskiöld and David Ostrowski. Music and art publicist Max Dax has made a music compilation of various genres in direct response to the selected artworks featured in the exhibition. Ali Banisadr and Ahmed Alsoudani translate early memories of moods and sounds from their homelands, but also those of war and displacement, in colour-rich strokes that reverberate on the fringes of the figurative. While Etel Adnan’s delicate pastel surfaces invoke contemplative landscapes, Federico Herrero captures urban experiences with tropical colours in geometric compositions. Herrero’s roots are in street art, like his fellow American painter Sterling Ruby, whose work contrasts Herrero’s cheerful colours with the dark tone it takes from graffiti and depicts social marginalisation and inequality. Joseph Marioni who explores the quality of yellow paint, applied layer by layer, giving it depth and varying levels of richness. A pictorial world of geometric shapes and visual references that dissolves the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract and defies all classification is characteristic of the work of Thomas Scheibitz. In contrast, David Ostrowski’s fast, spontaneous gestures on top of monochrome surfaces undermine style and composition, allow for mistakes and leave room for chance.
Info: me Collectors Room Berlin/Olbricht Foundation Auguststrasse 68, Berlin, Duration: 14/916-2/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue – Sun 12:00-16:00, www.me-berlin.com
