Blue Curry & Ingo Gerken

Both Ingo and Blue come from a sculptural based position and in their month residency at LoBe they reacted and responded to each other’s combined objects using slight modifications. The two artists were put together by LoBe, as they share similar methods of making, which dissolves context and negates the traditional sculptural approach. For this show, the mixed objects are displayed in a gestu- ral playful manner, reducing complex ideas into a simple combination of things. Emptying the objects of meaning disconnects them from their original usage, the artists do this by bringing the things that do not belong with another together, ex- panding and extending possibilities of the objects in the space. Both artists agree that they want to avoid people dwelling on critical concerns, but instead allowing the intrinsic presence of the objects to speak for themselves. A non-Seriousness appearance (processing even a humorous slant) and Decorative elements exist, but are negated by the tensions formed in the work. A non-perma- nent balance comes into play. Flexibility and sensitivity for changes, allowing an openness to remain in the work that denies fixed finishes.

Blue Curry is a London based artist who works primarily in sculpture and installa- tion. Using his own idiosyncratic language to transform objects and commonplace materials he engages with themes of exoticism, the production of culture, plasti- city and image. He has a MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College and previously a BA (Hons) in Photography and Multimedia at the University of Westminster. He was included in the Catlin Guide to the top 40 emerging UK artists in 2010 and gained further recognition when he was profiled in a two-part BBC documentary on graduate artists the same year. He has shown widely, participating in the 6th Liverpool Biennial in 2010 as well as in group shows at The Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC, the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Puerto Rico and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York. In 2011 he had a solo show at Nassauischer Kunstver- ein, Wiesbaden and has been selected for The Creekside Open curated by Paul Noble at APT Gallery, London.

Ingo Gerken lives and works in Berlin. He studied at Muthesius-Kunsthochschule Kiel and Glasgow School of Art. His conceptual arrangements, interventions and sculptural gestures are flirting with reference and relevance, situation and sub- version. His work evaluates the porosity of context and space, its construction, flexibility, and weight. It utilises existing exhibition terms uncovering, decoding and redefining them. Recent solo shows include Morgen ist auch noch ein Tag, Kunst- haus Erfurt (2013), Darum geht es doch gar nicht, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel (2012), Solom, Laura Mars Grp. Berlin (2011), Born after 1924, Castlefield Gallery, Manches- ter (2011), Elementary, Städtische Galerie, Kirchheim/Teck (2011) and When Attitude Becomes Norm, Apex Kunstverein, Göttingen (2010)

Blue Curry & Ingo Gerken

Kuratoren:
Elke Falat & Olivia Reynolds