Acknowledgement: curated by Raimar Stange... 20.06.2009 – 01.08.2009
...the colleagues, companions and friends of Jürgen Drescher who are taking part in this exhibition. For Jürgen Drescher is probably someone who can justifiably be described as an ”artistÕs artist“, i.e. an artist who has for a number of years enjoyed the respect of his colleagues in the art world, an “inside tip“, as it were. And he is an artist who in 1981 created a piece of German art history by exhibiting a functioning bar installation at the student show at the Dusseldorf Kunstakademie and proclaiming it a work of art. The “Dank an” (“Acknowledgment to”) exhibition showcases artists from three generations who enter into a dialogue with this “artistÕs artist.” At this exhibition they are showing self-selected works that are influenced by DrescherÕs artistic output. These connections range widely, from a friendly, almost intimate gesture (Asta Gröting, Bernd Krauß) to various formal references. Allusion is made to the sculptural works of Jürgen Drescher (Katharina Fritsch, Miroslaw Balka, Michael Sailstorfer), to his text-based creations (Candice Breitz, Christine Würmell) and to his film products (Silva Agostini, Anna Witt). However, the formal references to the art of Jürgen Drescher always prove neither accidental nor clearly intentional. Rather these references stem from a parallel questioning of and similar attitudes to art and the world. And fathoming out precisely these exciting aesthetic moments is the primary concern of “Dank an” (“Acknowledgment to”).Raimar Stange, Berlin, 2009
