Beck & Eggeling is proud to present a debut show of works by Heribert C. Ottersbach from the 1980s most of which have never been exhibited or published before. These are works of art that no one has seen in over 30 years because they were part of private collections or “hidden” in the artist's studio.

The opening reception will take place on Friday, September 6th, 2013, at 6 pm on Bilker Strasse 4-6 in Düsseldorf. The artist will be present. This reception is part of the programme of DC Open, an event of galleries in Düsseldorf and Cologne. The exhibition will be on display from September 6th until October 26th, 2013.

Ottersbach's works were created in a period that was coined by the debate on postmodernity and the emerging „anything goes“ in art. Form, design and attitude, in combination with a certain playfulness, were being called for. It was the time of the resolution to deploy new arms, of Cold War, ideological incrustation and Helmut Kohl on the one hand, and postpunk, New German Wave, the anti-nuclear movement and an ubiquitous attitude of „no future“ on the other.

In the same period, the still young Heribert C. Ottersbach (born 1960) started his style of painting that moved along with the disruptions and continuities of his own biography and his interest in politics and history.

From 1982 to 1987 the artist set up his studio in the Stollwerck in Cologne, a former chocolate factory that had been occupied. At the time, Cologne was on a par with New York in its importance for the art scene, as the newspaper „ZEIT“ noted in bewilderment. In the following years, young artists, musicians, people from the theatre and writers worked in the Stollwerck, some of them still students like Ottersbach who would make a name for themselves later on. Through a permanent examination of other avenues for artistic work and his preoccupation with the emerging „new media“, Ottersbach explored the conditions and possibilities of a way of painting that had long lost its sovereignty over the image. After all, pictures were made by others, too.

In 1984, Ottersbach spent six months in New York, a time which became decisive for his artistic career. Before, he had also been active in the areas of performance, music, and installation, but now, his decision for painting was taken.

In various areas of his early work, many approaches of artistic thinking and acting emerge already which should become crucial for his later work.

Heribert C. Ottersbach has been professor for painting at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig since 2009. He lives and works in Sörmland (Sweden) and Leipzig.

The Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen organized the artist's first museum solo show as early as 1987/88. Solo shows in various museums followed, among them the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn (1993/94), the Museum of Art in Düsseldorf (1999), the Museum Folkwang Essen (2003), the Kunsthalle Tübingen (2007), the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich (2008), the Hamburger Kunsthalle (2008/09), and the Forum Kunst Rottweil (2012).

Beck & Eggeling Contemporary
Bilker Strasse, 4-6
Düsseldorf 40213 Germany
Ph. +49 211 4915890
info@beck-eggeling.de
www.beck-eggeling.de

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