Stefan Brüggemann

Yvon Lambert Paris is pleased to announce its first solo show of London based German/Mexican artist Stefan Brüggemann. Stefan Brüggemann works extensively with language, having a very particular way of dealing with text, combining a formal conceptual approach with a rough and critical attitude. As a perfect reflection of a world, the work seriously delivers the truths of the day, pursuing the forms of negativism, in their nihilistic rather than romantic aspect—forms involving the end of myths and beliefs, including those of creation. The works refer at times brutally to the society of disappointment that is ours, setting the individual face to face with him/herself to the world.

For his first exhibition in Paris, Stefan Brüggemann presents the installation Conceptual Decoration (2008). In this installation the words of the title are printed on wallpaper that covers the space in entirety. The “moirée” effect of the repeated ten-point registration of the words provides an interference pattern that jolts the eye and suffuses the gallery in a gray half-light. Here, the artist uses the bourgeois decadence of surface decoration to highlight the “appearance” of the concept. By melding together the idea and its physical embodiment, their irreconcilable differences are exposed: looking and meaning are inextricably shackled together as they are unable to function without each other.

Stefan Brüggemann’s recent solo exhibitions include: Black Box, curated by Philippe Pirotte and Eva Gonzáles-Shancho, Kunsthalle Bern and Frac Bourgogne, Dijon,France, 2008. Recent group exhibitions include: Escultura Social: New Generation of Art from Mexico City, MCA, Chicago, 2007; Nothing, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2006; Off-key, curated by Philippe Pirotte, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, 2006; and Beck’s Futures Award, ICA, London, 2006. Recent publications include: JRP Ringier publication edited by Nicolas de Oliveira with essays by Chris Kraus, Michael Bracewell and Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith.

Stefan Brüggemann