Exhibitions at Westernhagen and in the Centre
Two galleries have set up shop again in the Belgisches Viertel: Westernhagen at Bismarckstr. 33 and - a little earlier - "Zentrum" at Venloer Str. 21. At Westernhagen, the paintings of the Copenhagen-born Frenchman Peter Valentiner are shown. The viewer is offered a "school of seeing". Spatiality is created through the superimposition of several layers of paint and the nesting of variable asymmetrical forms. This initially leaves open the question of what is before and what is behind, what is reaching into the depths and what is striving out of the depths.
Valentiner used to work with camouflage nets with which he wrapped various objects. He transfers the formal design of the camouflage nets to the painting surface. Reality is camouflaged. Or its absence. The observer may decide. What is certain is that Valentiner is a master at playing with colour, form, light and shadow.
"Zentruin" shows the pictures of Yohannes Gedamu, an Ethiopian who has been living in Cologne for five years. They are particularly captivating because of the African's confident access to stylistic means of 20th century European art. In terms of colour, for example, his works are reminiscent of Klee or Dix. The possibilities for interpretation are always manifold; for example, when a black woman carries a white child on her back.
(Exhibition at Westernhagen until 19 November, at the "Zentrum" until 5 November).
EvS
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