Syndicate: Anna Oppermann in NY / 20 June -- 29 August 99

[Inke Arns <inke@berlin.snafu.de>]

Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 18:44:41 -0400
From: ute vorkoeper <106032.2574@compuserve.com>



PRESS RELEASE

Anna Oppermann: 'Being different (Why is she so different?)', 1970-1984
P.S.1, Long Island City, New York
June 20 - August 29

Open June 20, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents Anna Oppermann's
expansive multi-media 'ensemble' 'Being different (Why is she so
different?)', 1970-1984 in its third floor archive gallery. This
installation marks the first New York presentation of works by the late
German artist (1940-1993), who was celebrated in international exhibitions
such as the Venice biennial (1980) and documenta (1977 & 1987), but never
exhibited in the United States during her lifetime.

Anna Oppermann's chosen term 'ensemble' describes not only the form of her
work, but also refers to the process of its construction. The ensembles
were created often over many years, growing from ordinary everyday found
objects, small still lives, flower or plant leaves, and words or phrases
taken from passing conversation. The resulting assemblages led the artist
to specific problems, which she approached by adding new observations,
comments, and findings. In the ensembles, each step of this artistic
process of perception, research, and interpretation is documented and
constantly rearranged.

Oppermann declared 'from the personal to the general' as a main tendency in
her visual thought process. Over 60 large works by Anna Oppermann remain -
assembled from hundreds of little pieces based on themes such as 'being a
woman', 'being an artist,' 'being different,' 'love, eroticism, sex,' as
well the thematic areas 'oil on canvas', 'myth and enlightenment' or the
'economical aspect' (of making art).

'Being different (Why is she so different?)', 1970-1980 is not a
self-portrait, nor does it describe otherness as an identifiable trait.
Instead, this ensemble tells about the experiences of dissociation,
revealing otherness as something hidden, undiscovered, and impossible to
find. A central motif in the work is a sitting woman, whose face remains
obscured by her own hair. The figure is simultaneously hiding and left out.
Paradoxically, she hides something to avoid being accepted without managing
to avoid acceptance. The ambivalence of this gesture runs through the whole
ensemble, which unfolds and communicates the interrelationship between
isolation and deprivation.

One of the first large ensembles created by Oppermann and exhibited
publicly, 'Being different' was first shown in 1972 in the Hamburg
Kunsthalle, and was last shown fully assembled in 1986. This presentation
of the work at P.S. 1 will not only introduce Oppermann's work to the
American public, but also make this important ensemble from her early
oeuvre accessible for the first time in thirteen years.

The new installation of 'Being different (Why is she so different?' is
organized and curated by Ute Vorkoeper and Herbert Hossmann. The exhibition
is presented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institute New York / German
Cultural Center.

Further informations:
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Ave at 46th Ave
Long Island City, New York 11101
phone: 718-7842084 / fax: 718-4829454 / e-mail: mail@ps1.org

Goethe-Institut New York
Program Coordinator
1014 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028
Tel: 212.439.8682
Fax: 212.439.8705
e-mail: exhibit@goethe-newyork.org

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