Fragments Remnants Leftovers

Solo show

Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, New York
October 7 – November 5, 2017


Press Release:

This exhibition brings together Björn Meyer-Ebrecht’s two recent bodies of work: ink drawings that examine architectural space and sculptural work that references basic architectural elements such as platforms, benches, tables, or even full-size rooms. For this show Meyer-Ebrecht has created a sculptural installation consisting of a wall that divides the gallery into two spaces connected by a passageway. Simply titled “Divider”, the wall is painted with a three-color geometric pattern on the front side facing the gallery entrance. The back of the wall reveals its structure and consists of unpainted wood, Masonite panels and metal studs. Meyer-Ebrecht sees this work as both an abstract painting and as a utilitarian object. As the viewer passes from one side to the other the painting reveals itself as functional architecture: as a room divider. The shapes painted on the wall refer to geometric abstract painting, flags, political symbols, billboards, and film or theater sets.

Meyer-Ebrecht’s ink drawings are made on separate sheets of paper joined with transparent tape. The construction of the drawings relates to the building processes they illustrate, but it is also a device to bring the drawing out of the illusionistic into the actual space. Colored ink is applied over some of the black and white drawings, creating a layer of artifice and what the artist describes as “looking at history through the proverbial rose-colored glasses. At the same time it contributes to my ongoing attempt to fully appropriate these images and take them out of historic and political circulation.” Meyer-Ebrecht’s new ink drawings explore the idea of a wall and its many purposes. A basic element of architecture, a wall is also a membrane, screen, barrier, and a political or legal boundary. The drawings depict wall fragments or architectural details taken from photographs in modernist architecture books collected by the artist. A drawing of a wall with a tiled mural, for example, features an abstract geometric design that is reminiscent of both an abstract painting and a physical boundary. In another drawing a cast concrete façade supports an oversized clock, which ties together heavy-handed brutalist architecture with the abstract representation of time.

The title of the show, Fragments Remnants Leftovers, refers to the end of major cultural and political eras, such as modernism or the Cold War. Meyer-Ebrecht’s drawings approach architecture solely as material. As artifact this material carries over historic knowledge into our present time and the specific place of the gallery. The wall sculpture, as actual construction of architecture in the center of the show, solidifies this idea.

→ Press Release as PDF


Installation shots

Individual works

Untitled (Clock), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
39 x 29 1/2 in. (99 x 75 cm)
(#1714)


Untitled (Bricks I), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
43 x 41 in. (109 x 104 cm)
(#1715)

Untitled (Fountain), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
30 x 35 1/2 in. (76 x 90 cm)
(#1716)

Untitled (Bricks II), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
21 x 28 in. (53.5 x 71 cm)
(#1717)

Untitled (Mural), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
49 x 58 1/2 in. (124.5 x 148.5 cm)
(#1718)

Untitled (Facade), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
29 x 25 3/4 in. (74.5 x 65.5 cm)
(#1719)

Untitled (Bench II), 2017
Ink and tape on paper
21 1/2 x 25 in. (54.5 x 63.5 cm)
(#1720)