Clean Cuts / Erica Baum, Thomas Arnolds & Marijn van Kreij

Welcome to Klemm's at ARCO E–xhibitions!


For the first presentation on this platform we have invited three artists from the gallery's program to share the 'booth' – Erica Baum , Thomas Arnolds and Marijn van Kreij.

On view is a carefully curated selection of work in various media – drawing, painting and conceptual photography – which opens a dialogue around the essence of artistic practice. There is a clear 'protocol' and conceptual method at the core of each practice: an intriguing juxtaposition of intellectual thought, deep reflection on the respective medium and the ability to bring this to live in a truly authentic visual language.

Fascinated by the printed word, concrete poetry and the beauty of language permeating our daily lives, the American artist Erica Baum could be best described as a “poet-photographer”. She has become inter-nationally known for her photographic practice based on found sources of text and images. With her reflec-ted, non-chalant use of strategies akin to the Pictures Generation, Conceptual Art and Minimalism, Erica Baum has developed a unique and truly authetic visual language. Since two decades her enigmatic close-ups of books, newspapers and other printed matter have been investigating the nature, traditions, and magic-spots of the photo-graphic – steadily "re-materializing" it's visual, haptical and contentual qualities.

Thomas Arnolds pursues the fundamental interest in constantly re-exploring the possibilities and condi-tions of painting. In doing so, he develops a complex and at the same time consistent position that nego-tiates central issues of the medium in a coherent balance of at first glance contradicting designs: abstraction vs. figuration; minimal vs. gestural; space vs. image; surface vs. matter or hard-edge vs. free duct-drawing ... the essence of his paintings lies in their surprising but always concise combination. Thomas Arnolds has created a set of instruments that are as precise as they can be used variably, a ‚free set of rules‘ between intellect and gutfeeling, reflection and anarchy, with which he pushes his ouevre forward as a radical proposal on painting.

In Marijn van Kreij’s multifaceted oeuvre, consisting of drawings, paintings, collages, videos and installa-tions, the process of duplication plays a key role. Reflecting on ideas around repetition and autonomy, his work often forms a response to existing works of art and involves collaborations with other artists, desig-ners, writers or musicians. A key character is van Kreys contemporary stance demonstrated in the way he raises ‘non-subjects’ and ordinary details, as well as in his manual approach to appropriating images amidst the current age of digital and online visual culture.

Titled 'Clean Cuts' our presentation shows a selection of pivotal examples of the artists' practices. The precise understanding and use of 'material' – as source of content and for it's textural qualities – strongly reflects in the works.