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A Sight for Hype

Cold Hearts: Artists from Leipzig, ARARIO Beijing Gallery, continues until January 21, 2007 and features Axel Krause, Christoph Ruckhaberle, David Schnell, Joerg Herold, Julia Schmidt, Maix Mayer, Martin Kobe, Matthias Weischer, Neo Rauch, Rosa Loy, Tilo Baumgartel, Tobias Lehner, Uwe Kowski and Klasse Rautert. Leipzig is yet another buzz word in the vocabulary of hot international art scenes.

ARARIO Beijing presents its extended collection of young German contemporary artists in Cold Hearts: Artists from Leipzig. This timely exhibition plays into the phenomenon of a hyped art market, which MoMA curator Joachim Pissarro regards as “the hottest thing on earth,” but also parallels the excitement around contemporary art in Beijing. The Leipzig art phenomenon is shaped by a strong tradition of perfected craftsmanship and devotion to figurative art against the smoky backdrop of a modernizing city consumed by restoration and renovation.

Though artists choose various media including painting, photography and installation, the result reflects a phase of dry romanticism filled with self-reflection and melancholy subject matter.

The international success and public heat emanating from these works is curious as they are often envisioned with digital aesthetic without a hint of political friction or restlessness.

With the bravura figuration of Neo Rauch at the forefront, the isolated interaction of his figures in surrealist landscapes are as frigid as expressions of the languid youths of Christoph Ruckhaberle’s paintings and as cool as the film-noir scenes of Tilo Baumgartel’s charcoal drawings.

This passionate sense of detachment is chilling when viewing the empty furnished rooms of Matthias Weischer, the soulless drawings of Martin Kobe’s futuristic structures and the disintegrating barns in David Schnell’s perspective landscapes.

Ironically, as the exhibition title implies, the distinctive coldness of these works provides intensely warm sentiments of disenchantment and disillusionment.

ARARIO Gallery has its finger on the pulse of the international contemporary art scene with its consistent display of a diverse art collection hailing from global hot spots.  The sobering display of Leipzig’s finest provides the local Beijing scene with high quality products of international art production.

Such cities lure attention with an explosion of art produced by artists working with uncurbed energy and unlimited boundaries in an era of post-political tension and rapid urbanization.