Gabriele Herzog: Amorphous Indigo
August 5 - 28, 2022
Snow is delighted to present Amorphous Indigo by the Swiss artist Gabriele Herzog opening August 5, 2022 and running through August 25. Amorphous Indigo is Gabriele Herzog’s first solo exhibition with Snow, and she is presenting a new body of work.
Vernissage:
with the presence of the artist
Aug 4
6 - 9 pm
“I never saw the difference between meditation and being an artist, it’s the same thing.”
- Laurie Anderson
Gabriele Herzog arrives at the studio and from that moment all starts to unfold. By immersing into the ritual, letting the time and the routines for preparing to paint transport her into the working mode.
What matters?
Colours, shapes and lines and the sound they generate
Lines, colours and shapes offering endless possibilities in combinations
The consistency of the pigments and how they are carried
Through which kind of ‘paint-material’
The format, size and proportion of the canvas
Where the painting is placed within the space
The light within the painting
Colour, Shapes and Lines are enough for me. And plenty to play with. Settling on the material of the chosen type of canvas, prepared by myself.
My paintings are Objects neither figurative nor abstract, or both.
They are huge ‘filters’ reproducing everything that surrounds me, inclusively.
I wish for my works to be seen.
Gabriele Herzog, July 2022
Gabriele Herzog works the surfaces of her canvas in such a way that the elements of light and dark, or rather, negative and positive space become complex and undefined. What was once positive now appears to be negative. There is a formidable and delicate tension between the balance of positive and negative space. This tension evokes a reaction of emotional immediacy, a sense that the balance could be knocked off kilter at any time. The works are viewed with caution. The finished works expose a sense of calm but are menacing nonetheless.
Her works are a direct nod to abstraction. She focuses on the juxtaposition of block colour and form on the canvas and the subsequent interaction and interpretation of such forms. Her forms, however, although geometric are organic and amorphous. They appear to float and/or to vibrate, with serene subtlety but to dramatic effect. Her intention is to apply as little as possible to the canvas. She prefers to take away, than to add. Her choice to use raw, untreated canvas re-emphasises her desire to express as much as she can with only the essential, and without the need to overwork the expanse of the surface, and hence does not cause interruption to the harmony of the composition. It is this combination of application of paint, and of thought to brushstroke, which keeps her works in precarious balance.
- Sascha Gianella
Swiss painter Gabriele Herzog (born 1965 Basel, Switzerland) completed a Bachelor of Arts (and Foundation Course) at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basel from 1982-86. She went on to study a Post Graduate Diploma at the Central School of Art in London in 1988 and was awarded a Masters of Arts at the University of the Arts London in 2009.
She has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe, the UK, Australia and US. In 2022 she has shown at PIERMARQ* Sydney, Australia, at Amélie Maison D’Art Paris, France and will show at AINORI Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal in September.
Her work has featured in several publications including the limited edition 50 books printed in Berlin, SLUICE_MAGAZINE, ELENCHUS 1, PHYLACTERY book, NOTHING’S GONNA CHANGE MY WORLD? Raum www Berlin and in exhibition catalogues associated with gallery solo and group shows.
Her work is held in the public collection SOCIETE GENERALE Collection and Foundation, Paris, France and private collections in the UK, US, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Taiwan and Europe. Gabriele Herzog lives and works in Berlin.
Curated by Susanne Johansson