Yesim Akdeniz Graf and Markus Amm are two artists with a very different approach but a common interest in modernism.
Whereas German artist Markus Amm follows a formal way of working in which fragmentation is crucial, translating art history into his own abstract visual language; Turkish born painter, Yesim Akdeniz Graf’s approach is a more narrative one.
Yesim’s imagery is derived from mass media as well as from specific icons such as modernist architecture. Her work can almost be read as a modernising of old narratives, a questioning of how these stories could end today; what is or could be different now? Yesim often creates an installation of related paintings, both figurative and abstract, but for the “The Man”, her exhibition at westlondonprojects, she collages fabrics for the first time and combines these with large-scale drawings that create a storyboard effect.
Markus is producing a new sculpture for this show, as well as a series of large format photographs that refer to his site-specific wall drawings. The third element in his presentation will be Luminograms, a photographic technique similar to the photogram that was developed in the experimental 1920s. It allows for the creation of abstract photographic images without a negative, using only the effect of light on chemically prepared paper.
Born 1969, Stuttgart, Germany
Lives and works in London
1993–1995 Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, Germany.
1995–1996 Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Germany.
1996–2000 Kunstakademie Stuttgart, Germany.
David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
Galerie Karin Guenther, Hamburg, Germany
The Breeder Gallery, Athens, Greece
Herald St, London, England
Projektraum, Rheinschau, Cologne, Germany
Spate Blatter, Galerie Karin Guenther, Hamburg, Germany
Ladybird, Gastatelier Goldbekhaus, Hamburg, Germany
Triumph of Painting 4: Germania, Saatchi Gallery, London
Blind Date Passau, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Worlen, Passau, Germany
Friedrich, Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburugh, Scotland
Dereconstruction, curated by Matthew Higgs, Gladstone Gallery, New York
Finding Neverland, Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland
The Figs Play Fox Dead, David Kordansky Gallery, LA
Meet you at the corner, Fortescue Ave Gallery, London
Alles. In einer Nacht, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
William Blake & Sons, Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Irrational thoughts…, Galerie Hauf, Stuttgart, Germany
The addiction, Gagosian Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Square Dance, Galerie Jacky Strenz, Frankfurt, Germany
Formalismus, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg
New Party, The Breeder Projects, Athens, Greece
Lokaltermin, Haus der Kunststiftung, Stuttgart, Germany
Ausstellungsraum Taubenstrasse 13, Hamburg, Germany
Black Friday – Exercises in Hermetics, Galerie Joanna Kamm, Berlin, Germany
EAST International, Norwich Gallery, England
Born in 1978, Izmir, Turkey
Lives and works in Düsseldorf
2002–2004 De Ateliers, residency-program in Amsterdam
1997–2002 Art academy, Düsseldorf
Peter Mertes Stipendium, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
Malerei, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zürich, Switzerland
Open Space, Art Cologne, Germany
Atlas Shrugged, Galerist, Istanbul, Turkey
Visiona Teorema, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam
Galerie Klinkhammer und Metzner, Düsseldorf
Cocaine Nights, Galerie Klinkhammer und Metzner, Düsseldorf, Germany
Wild at Heart, KunstRai, Amsterdam
Group Show, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam
Le peintre de la vie moderne/The painter of modern life, Museum De Paviljoens, Almere
Regarding Düsseldorf, 701 e. V. Düsseldorf, Germany
20/20 Vision, Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam
Buning Bongers Prijzen, Arti et Amicitae, Amsterdam
Deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Germany