    |     |    | 01 Azadi Berlin (2007) 02 Azadi Berlin (2007) 03 Azadi Berlin (2007) 04 Isfahan Ornamentstudie(2004/05) 05 Isfahan Stadtansichten(2004/05) 06 Azadi Triptychon(2004/05) 07 Wintermärchen(2007) No 1-16 08 Unter den Linden(2005/6) 09 Matrose(2005/6) 10 Matrose(2005/6) 11 Rosen und Pflaumen(2006) |
    |     |    | 01 Angel 01 02 Angel 02 03 Angel 03 04 Angel 04 05 Angel 05 06 Angel 07 07 Angel 08 Serie 08 Angel 09 Serie 09 Angel 10 Serie 10 Angel 11 Serie 11 Angel 06 Serie |
Alexis W. was born in Tabique, El Hierro (Canary Islands) and lives and works between El Hierro, Madrid and Berlin. A great part of his artwork deals with the body, personal relationships and the point of view. The body, the nude, usually his body and his nude have been a pivotal tool in his work, which give the pieces a special meaning, a kind of trademark. The selfportrait is another main subject between the documentary and work in progress. Love, relationships and commitment are also always present in his work, as a way of extending and communicating with the world outside. The anonymous and universal characters that live in his images are part of a personal story telling and are shown physically and emotionally naked.
 |  |  | 01 oT aus 'Stripped', 2000. 02 Bridge Markland 1998 03 Bridge Markland 1998 |
 | 01 Stones Berlin (2007) |
 |  |  | 01 Sanssouci 1 02 Sanssouci 2 03 Sanssouci 3 |
 |  |  | 01 Fishers of Men (2005-2006) 02 Fishers of Men (2005-2006) 03 Saviour Saved |
David Trullo ( Madrid, 1969)
FISHERS OF MEN (2005-2006)
Dyptich, 400 x 50 cm (each 200 x 50), b&w photographs on dibond.
‘Follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men’
St. Matthew, 4-19
‘Fishers of men’ is an essay which explores the representation of masculinity.
It starts with the figure of the Christian apostles, as an example of the ‘homo virtus’, or man of virtues, confronted to the figure of the ‘bear’, a gay man full of hair as the stereotype of the ‘hipermale’ The idea is to compare the use of iconographical items that are common to the representation and appearance of both groups.
The representation of the 12 apostles in western art has barely changed over centuries: it offers a catalogue of references that are used today in very different contexts. For instance, the beard has represented signs of maturity, stability and confidence. Also God and Christ are almost always depicted with a beard since the Middle Ages. For the bears, though, it has become as well a powerful sex-appeal feature.
It is interesting to focus on the case of St. John the Evangelist. He is the only one who seems not to belong to a compact group where it is difficult to identify single ones. He looks young, feminine and beautiful. He is the exception which makes the rule work. The rest of the apostles will be seen today as a homogeneous group that could be described as a ‘sect’. The appearance warns of a particular attitude to life, (in the case of bears of sexual preference) Just by extrapolating all these elements to a new contemporary phenomena, we find that the bears actually copy (Without knowing? Because of lack of historical references?) all the signs that made the apostles a male group which excludes the rest of men. It is amazing how bears reproduce those appearance signs with incredible accuracy: bearded, hairy, corpulent…Even in the ‘bear language’ we can find examples of the endless subcategories that could be based on a particular apostle. Then, St. John the Baptist would be a so called ‘chaser’ (somebody who fancies big hairy men, but who is not a bear himself); Judas could be a ‘leatherbear’, and so on.
The Project is composed of 12 portraits of ‘bearmodels’ who play the role of a particular apostle. They are based on prints and paintings that were very common in Spain in the 17th century. All of them wear or carry objects or symbols that used to help the believer in order to recognize each of them, according to the traditional representation and iconography. They are also identified with names, not the biblical ones but nicknames that are used today, as they are not saints but ordinary people who ‘play holy’ (St. Matthew is now Matt, St. John is Johnny, St. James is Jim, and so on)
The project is to be exhibited in two collections of six images, with a gap in the centre. Six apostles look to the right, and the other six to the left. The empty space in the centre suggests the presence of Jesus. But he is not there: the master is not there anymore. They are left alone.
I am not interested in provoking, or take a particular theme and do a remake, better still I am interested in how symbols and images make us see endless realities, how they all change or adapt to different codes, how people use them to seduce or abuse or control or to be happy. Some people might see this work as a sacrilege, others a joke, hopefully they would use my images as they would use any other: to seduce or abuse or control or to be happy.
David Trullo, Madrid, May 2006
Degree in Fine Arts, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1993
Solo Exhibitions
Ecce Homme, Rita Castellote Gallery, Madrid, 2007 *
Heroes, Alcorcón Arts Centre, Madrid, 2004
Vierzenheiligen, Galleria Magenta 52, Milan, Italy, 2004.
Underwear, Larra 10 Gallery, Madrid, 2003.
Alive and Dead, Carmen de la Guerra Gallery, Madrid, 2003.
Memorabilia, C.C. La Canela Arts Centre, Cádiz, Spain 2001.
Better Youth, PhotoEspaña 01, Carmen de la Guerra Gallery, 2001.
Le Bois Humain, Estampa 99, Prints And Editions Fair, Madrid.
Pink Spasm, Carmen de la Guerra Gallery, Madrid, 1999.
Crédito, El Foro, Madrid, 1995.
RGF+DDT (with Roberto González)
Pardo Bazán Gallery, La Coruña, 2007.
Rita Castellote Gallery, Madrid, 2007.
Alcorcón Arts Centre, Madrid, 2007.
Espacio 48 Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, 2007.
Awards, Residencies and Grants
2002 Artist in Residence, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.
2002 3rd Prize, Ibiza Biennale, Spain
1998 'Eros' Photography Prize, El Foro, Madrid.
1997 2º Prize, 'Portrait of a Lady', Polygram Spain.
1994 National prize, XII City ofLeganés Photography Prize, Madrid.
1993 Young Artist Prize, XII Ciudad de Alcorcón Art Competition, Madrid.
1993 Spanish Youth Institute grant for the workshop with Eiichiro Sakata.Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France.
1992 Runner up, Young Images, Amadís Gallery, Youth Institute, Madrid.
Publications
1996-2004 Libro Objeto S.T. Artist's Book, Madrid.
1999 A brand for Y2K, Istituto Europeo di Design, Madrid.
2002 Portraying the dead, Source, Photographic Review, Belfast.
2005 Studija, Visual Arts Review, Latvia.
2006 Arte Fotográfico Magazine, Madrid.
 |  | 01 oT2005 02 oT2005 |
 |  | 01 Enjoy Opus Dei Part 1 (2007) 02 Enjoy Opus Dei Part 2 (2007) |
 |  |  | 01 Helping Hand 02 Morning 03 Nightcrawlers |
 |  |  |
  |  |  | 01 Tyger aus der Serie 02 Tyger aus der Serie 03 Tyger aus der Serie 04 Divine & Miss Piggy NYC 1976 |
 | 01 Intense Glance CA 2000 |
  |   |  | 01 Ach wie gut, dass niemand weiss (2007) 02 Ein Mädchen steht im Walde (2007) 03 Strandgut (2007) 04 Madonna mit Kind (2006) 05 (2007) |
1958 born in Parsberg, Oberpfalz
1978-82 Member of the Artgroup „ENDART“ Berlin
1989 workingstipendium of the Belin Senat for cultural affairs.
1991 Filmstudy, to „BERLIN VOODOO, from Sylviane Phan Van,
Munich
1994 IG-Medien, Artprice for „Elektronische Fußfessel“
Symposium IG Medien, Bielefeld
„Sabotage virtueller Welten“
workingstipendium of the Belin Senat for cultural affairs
participation „Die Welt den Künstlern“
Freie Akademie, Moskau
1996 4. Biennale, St. Petersburg,
Bildgeschichte „Business with icons“
Sammlung Berlinische Galerie,
1990-99 Werkverträge Senat für kulturelle Angelegenheiten, Berlin
1999 Kunstwoche Schmerwitz
2000 Künstlerförderung des Bundespräsidialamtes
2003 Filmstudie der Akademie Film und Fernsehen von Andreas
Meyer über Ines Berger und ihre Arbeit
2004 Jahresdruck für die Sammlung Dr. Böckmann
Soloexhibitions
1988 Galerie Zindel und Grabner, Berlin
1989 Galerie Mora, Berlin, „spezial Guests“
1990 Villa Weiner, Ochtrup, “Ohne Worte”
1991 Boomtown, Berlin,Space Agency, Berlin
1992 Galerie Dirty Window, Berlin „Osterwunder“
1993 Galerie Boudoir, Berlin, „Handarbeiten für Mädchen“
1994 Galerie Bürgerhaus, städtische Galerie
Schwabach, „Gedächtnislücken“
1995 Galerie Zörnig und Mock, Hannover
1996 Kunstverein GENTHINER ELF, Berlin, „Jeder ist eine Insel“
1997 Galerie Zörnig und Mock, Hannover
1998 Kunstverein GENTHINER ELF, „Good luck, Alice“
1999 Staatsoper UNTER DEN LINDEN, Berlin, Apollosaal, „ZWÖLF“
2000 Kunstverein GENTHINER ELF, Berlin, „JABBA“
2001 KUNST WERK, Herford
2002 Kunstverein Waldkirchen, Oberpfalz „WOLPERDINGER“
2003 STIFTUNG STARKE, Löwenpalais, Berlin, „Kopf an Kopf“
2004 KULTFABRIK, white box, München,
2005 WASCHHAUS, Berlin
Groupexhibitions
1979-82 Ausstellungen mit der Gruppe ENDART
1989 KATAKOMBEN; Berlin, Schmutzengel,
BERLINISCHE GALERIE, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin,
Arbeiten junger Künstler aus der Sammlung Berlinische
Galerie
HAUS AM LÜTZOWPLATZ, Berlin, AUSSCHAU, IG, Medien
1990 DA Gallery, Los Angeles, Berlin at the new Frontier
1991 BERLINISCHE GALERIE, Kunstszene Berlin
Haus BALTIC, Kühlungsborn, Alles was zählt ist nur der
Schein
HENNING, Berlin, Bilderschau
1992 PETROVSKY BOULEVARD, Moskau, Rauminstallation
Basement; Berlin; XXX-EXPLICID IMAGES
1993 PETROVSKY BOULEVARD, Moskau, Installation,
Schlangenholz
1994 ENDART, Berlin
NGBK, Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin
1995 4.Biennale St. Petersburg, Bildgeschichte, Business with
icons
1996 BERLINISCHE GALERIE, Martin Gropius Bau BerliN
1997 GROßE KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG, Schmerwitz
KUNSTHALLE LINGEN, Genji Monagatori Projekt
1998 HAUS am KLEISTPARK, Berlin, dirty windows Galerie
Kunstverein GENTHINER ELF, 14 aus Elf
KUNSTVEREIN SPEYER
2000 Museum HEYLSHOF, Worms, Genji Monagatori-Projekt
2002 KUNSTPARTNER, Regensburg, Städt. Galerie LEEER BEUTEL
Kultfabrik, München, Galerie RAPHAEL VOSTELL
2003 KUNSTVEREIN WEIDEN
2004 STIFTUNG STARKE, Löwenpalais, Berlin
INNENMINISTERIUM, Berlin
2005 10 Jahre Verband Berliner Galerien, Galerie RAPHAEL
VOSTELL,
2007 Werkstattgalerie Berlin
 |  | 01 Große Welt: Peter an einem Junimorgen in der Eifel (Insomnia) 02 Bruno |
 | 01 U 41 |
  |  |  | 01 Unter der Dusche aus der Serie 02 Baubriegarde der Sportstudenten 03 Trainingsgespräch der Wasserballer aus der Serie 04 Freundschaftsphoto aus der Serie |
      |       |       | 01 Selbst mit Rose 02 BRD-Schwimmer 03 Königin Luise 04 Drei mal Sechs 05 Freiheit 06 Romeo: Carsten mit Messer 07 Erinnerung an Romeo und Julia 08 Romeo mit Gläsern 09 Das ganze Leben 10 Selbstportrait mit weißer Perücke 11 Weiterleben 12 CSD-Sunflowers 13 Moderne Kunst 14 Unruhen- Brandsatz 15 Markusplatz 16 Dogenfrage 17 Warum Kunst? 18 Martin von Ostrowski April 2008 |
Martin von Ostrowskis work is composed of performances, paintings, sculptures and installations. Since 1996 the question “Why art?” occupies the artist. He is not interested in “What is art?”, there are already so many statements about it, he is more asking why he himself makes art, why viewers look to art and are intensifying time with it. The artist got so many answers and also counterquestions, which he uses in his work.
The viewer sees always that what he is able to see, what he wants to see, what he has experiences in his life. So art has much to do with misunderstandings and irritations between the artist and the viewer and that can be so fruitful.
In 1994 Ostrowski used his semen as pigment for paintings, he just masturbed on grey coloured canvases. Since 2003 he collects his own semen and the semen of friends to paint male portraits and figures on dark coloured canvases. The semen can be seen as a transparent shining varnish on the black background.
From 2003 he made of this own produced organic material selfportaits with a positive meaning like his semenpaintings: I exist as I do digest, as I do produce semen. The artist is free to use his very personal material to paint with it, to show that he is part of the organic world. In semen the genes of the artits are kept for reproducing a human being together with a female egg. In his shit, microorganisms the artist lives in symbiosis with, and the digestion of food are conseved, the artist needs for his life. The artist is part of a great incalculable complex organic world, he is almost lost in it, is searching for a reason why he produces art. Martin von Ostrowski stands in the tradition of the German romantic movement, broken with irony and he sums up his work as aggressive romanticism.
Solo Exhibitions
1983 Self, Galerie Muthesiusstraße, Berlin
1985 Project for a grave of Queen Luise, Gras fressen, Berlin
1988 Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin (catalog) Art Jonction, Nizza
(catalog)
1989 Villa Arson, Nizza (catalog)
Take a new view, Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin (catalog)
1992 Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin
1993 Prussian Baroque, Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin
Narcissist - the whole life, Anderes Ufer, Berlin
1994 Galerie Erhard Witzel, Offenbach
1995 Burn baby, burn, with Florian Trümbach, Gleditsch 45, Berlin
1996 Romeo and Juliet, Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin
1997 Aggressive Romanticism - Ideal Faces, Kulturbauerei, Berlin
Paintings and sculptures, Galerie Erhard Witzel, Wiesbaden
Aggressive Romanticism, Kultours, Kassel
1998 Gehag Forum, Berlin
1999 Galerie Klaus Friese, München
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Studio I, Berlin
2000 Why Art? My Prussia! Movin’ Art Gallery, Berlin (catalog)
2001 Your Prussia too?, Schloss Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg
2002 Childhood in S., Studio Paul Revellio, Sachsenheim, (catalog)
2004 “Why Art?”, Installation Gehag Forum, Berlin
2005 Stiftung Starke, Berlin
KioskShop berlin, Berlin
Group Exhibitions
1988 Montreal - Berlin 88-89, Galerie Lavalin, Montreal (catalog)
1989 “DER KONGREß”, Galerie des Deutschen Künstlerbundes, Berlin
(catalog)
Vollbild Aids (2), Bern, Lausanne
1991 “DER KONGREß”, Kunstverein Göttingen (catalog)
Interferenzen, Kunst aus Westberlin, 1960-1990, Riga,
St. Petersburg (catalog)
1992 “DER KONGREß”, Galerie EIGEN & ART, Leipzig
1994 Material Gips, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, (catalog)
1997 1+1, Galerie Erhard Witzel, Wiesbaden
2000 Ausbrüche, Galerie im Pferdestall, Kulturbrauerei, Berlin
Finale 2000, Galerie Lüttinghaus-Hoessrich, Kronberg
2003 Überindividuell, zusammen mit Gerhard Haug, Hans-Peter Klie,
Marianne Stoll,Toni Wirthmüller, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
(catalog)
Marylin Monroe - Life Of a Legend, County Hall Gallery, London
2004 Überindividuell, new installation, Justus-Liebig-Haus, Darmstadt
Marylin - Una Vida De Leyenda, Reales Ataranzanas, Valencia
1. Berliner Kunstsalon, Arena Berlin
Marylin - Bir Efsanenin Yasami, Vakko, Istanbul
2005 lebenslang liebens:würdig, 12 positions about getting older,
c.p. art - Galerie am Buttermarkt, Cologne
2. Berliner Kunstsalon, Arena Berlin
Artistic Career
1958 born in Bietigheim-Bissingen, a town close to Stuttgart, Germany
1981 move to Berlin, start to work as artist,
paintings and performances
1983 co-founder of the gallery “Muhesiusstraße”, later called
gallery “Gras fressen”
1988 French State Award “Villa Arson”
1989 co-founder of the group “DER KONGREß”
1990 Dissertation in History of Art at the Free University Berlin:
"German Monumental Fountaines 1813 - 1871"
2004 Foundation of the artist group OPEC together with Hans-Juergen
Esch and Susanne Pomrehn
The artist lives and works in Berlin
 |  |  | 01 Slava Mogutin and Brian Kenny on the roof(2006) 02 Slava Mogutin and Brian Kenny sitting on the roof(2006) 03 Brians Ass(2006) |
 | 01 sw Photographien je 40 cm* 50cm der Serie Natur pur mit Sabrina Avantgarde und Peter Hofmann |
 |  |  | 01 Ecce Homo Videoinstallation (2007) 02 Ecce Homo Videoinstallation (2007) 03 Ecce Homo Videoinstallation (2007) |
 |  | 01 Pathfinder 02 Starfighter |
  |  |  | 01 Skate_02aus der Serie Schlüsselreiz 02 Skate_01aus der Serie Schlüsselreiz 03 NiceSmell_02aus der Serie Schlüsselreiz 04 NoFace_01aus der Serie Schlüsselreiz |
 |  |  | 01 Berliner Grotesque Detail aus Türeinfassung Nr.3, San Francisco (2007), 02 Berliner GrotesqueTüreinfassung Nr.3 03 Gartenkunst mit Hunden Türeinfassung Nr.4, San Francisco (2007) |
San Francisco
Door Surrounds (2007)
Shown here Nr 3,4,5
My door-surround series started simply enough- i wanted to experiment with shapes and sizes and pursue expressing my enthusiasm for european decorative art. i would create painted architectural pieces to actually frame doors, passageways etc. .
They are both an extension and a preview to my other work- my painted rooms in which i attempt to transport the viewer to distant times and places. The (emotional) experience comes from being within
(being surrounded by) the paintings.
The door-surrounds merely suggest entry to such imagined places- beautiful sunny gardens or cool dripping grottos. maybe they lead to paradise, somewhere darker, somewhere far away or long ago.
As these paintings are of a series, they are connected to each other.
I imagine being able to enter through one and exit through another.
I would travel between them effortlessly from california to berlin and beyond. I would slip out of bed in my pompeian room at home and peer through the windows of Sans Soucci to watch Frederick the Great play his violin.
Door-Surrounds No 1 and 2 of the series now stand in St Helena in the California Wine Country. St Helena is a place of serene beauty. I have lived and painted in the mountains there many times over the years.
The reflect country life. No 3 and 4 were painted in San Francisco and recontructed in Berlin. They are dark and orderly with an underlying mystery- my impression from several previous visits. No 5 was painted here in Berlin in my improvised studio. I created this piece for innumerable reasons, one being that nothing pays europeanish like a pink Chinoiserie number , it also lends a bit sunny California aka me.
I intend to continue this series- travelling and painting as i go. I would
like to have a door-surround(portal) in my favorite places. In my mind at least i slip quietly between them.
   |    |    | 01 West & Ost 02 Lolitas 03 Landscape at dusk 04 A set of six most improbable toast 05 Two in harmony 06 A moment of beauty 07 Little beauty shower 08 Little beauty shower 09 What are you thinking about? |
Born in 1972 in Rhade, Nord Rhein Westfalen, Germany. Lives and works in Herne (Germany) and Sydney. Started painting in 1996.
Single exhibitions:
2007-August Conny Dietz
