Kendell Geers

Kendell Geers

Infobox Artist


name = Kendell Geers
birthdate = May 1968
nationality = African / Belgium
movement = Conceptual Art

Kendell Geers is an artist, performance artist, musician and film-maker. In 1993, at the Venice Biennial, Kendell Geers changed his date of birth to MAY 1968. That same year, in Venice, Geers rose to international notoriety when he urinated in Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain." [Andrea Vinassa, Femina Magazine, Johannesburg, July 1993] He has exhibited globally since 1993 and participated in numerous exhibitions including Documenta, the Carnegie International, Havana Biennia, Kwang Ju Biennial, Taipei Biennial, Lyon Biennial as well as presented solo exhibitions in the CCA Cincinnati, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst Gent, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Aspen Art Museum and the CAC in Lyon.

Strategy

The following self-description of Kendell Geers outlines his artistic agenda:

“I am a white African living in a moment when people armed with razor blades can crash into the world’s most powerful buildings, a time when 15-million people in South Africa have AIDS, a time when the United States can declare war on Iraq for no reason other than fulfilling its own desire, a time when the pollution from the United States cause floods in Europe and droughts in Australia. I am living in a time where Contradiction, Truth, Desire, Passion and Anarchist are nothing more than the names of perfumes. I live in an age of digital reproduction where truth no longer exists in an image, where every image can be altered and changed and anybody can be erased from or inserted into history.” [http://www.yvon-lambert.com/artists/press_expo_pdf/ke_geers_pr_10_2007.pdf]

Over the years, Geers has consistently explored life, contemporary history and the implications of the abuse of power, violence, oppression, control as well as the collapse of belief systems and ideologies, using all possible media. A project by Geers is an attack. It is instinctual, direct and matches the brutality encountered in contemporary society. He proposes to the viewer an interrogation and asks for a definition of positions, thus creating a decisive discomfort.

The work of Kendell Geers eludes the comfort of easy categorization by defying definition and consciously refusing to fit into any prescribed format. Whereas at first sight the work seems to be the result of an effortless creation, in reality the truth could not be more different for lurking beneath the surface are various layers of meanings, references, histories and quotations.

A modern day alchemist, Geers' work is seeped in the lore and experiment of ancient mythology and tradition. The gods and goddesses of antiquity are brought to life and recast through the prism of the contemporary. Like the archetypal tricksters Hermes and Lilith, Geers prefers to inhabit the spaces between worlds, the border town, the twilight zone, the brothel, the place where roads cross and ideologies clash and intersect, the space where art and life meet each other in a head on collision.

As does the trickster, Geers prefers to use profanity to describe the sacred, turning expectations upside down and inside out. The banal obscenity is transformed into a complex visual mantra for meditation and contemplation. Art history is quoted and referenced, then dissected with irreverence, humour and irony until it is finally resurrected and brought back to life breathing the unmistakable spirit of Kendell Geers.

Ancient alchemical traditions and techniques are used to destabilize the flamboyance of the quotidian and disrupt the easy consumption of popular culture. A master at masking his own methods and erasing his tracks, Geers' work demands more than a cursory glance and greater effort than a passing one liner. The visual is nothing more than a door that demands to be knocked on in order to gain entry. The work of art is a portal that, like the sphinx' question to Oedipus, demands answering before the initiation may begin. [Press Release POSTPUNKPAGANPOP de Pury Luxemburg Gallery, Zurich May 2008]

Background

In 1988 Kendell Geers was one of 143 young men that publicly refused to enter serve in the South African Defence Force and faced either a life in exile or 6 years imprisonment in a civilian jail. [Merret, C, Saunders, C, in Switzer L, Adhikari M, South Africa's Resistance Press, Ohio University, 2000, pg 473] In 1989 he left South Africa and lived for a brief period in exile in the United Kingdom and New York where he worked as an assistant to artist Richard Prince. In 1990, once Nelson Mandela had been released from jail and Apartheid officially dismantled, geers returned to Johannesburg where he worked as an artist, and art critic, curator and performance artist.

It was only after Nelson Mandela's release from prison, together with other political prisoners, that it was safe to return from exile to Johannesburg without fear of being imprisoned. The first work of art created back on South African soil was "Bloody Hell," a ritual washing of his white Afrikaaner Boer body with the artists own fresh blood.

From 1999 until 2004 he worked as the curator and art consult for Gencor which was later bought out by BHP Billiton. The collection focused on artists and works of art that were central to the Anti-Apartheid Movement spirit [ [http://www.artthrob.co.za/00jan/news.html A R T T H R O B ] ] . In 1997 Geers edited and published "Contemporary South African Art" with essays by Okwui Enwezor, Olu Oguibe, Colin Richards, Elizabeth Rankin and Julia Charlton [Contemporary South African Art, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 1997, ISBN 978-1868420391]

Side Projects

Together with musician Patrick Codenys (FRONT 242) and Ilse Ghekiere, Kendell Geers formed the Belgium Audio-Visual group "thefucKINGFUCKS" in 2007. The project grew out of the now defunkt "Red Sniper" collaboration between Geers and Codenys. It is rumoured that they are working on an album and DVD due for release sometime in 2008.

Kendell Geers designed the limited edition artwork for "1633" an EP by the Japanese noise musician, Merzbow. It was released in a limited edition of 100 copies in 12 inch vinyl. The release came with a felt slipmat designed by Geers, made in four different designs with twenty-five copies of each design.

External links

* [http://www.panaesthetik.com/ Official Kendell Geers Website]
* [http://www.artthrob.co.za/02jun/artbio.html/ Artthrob Featured Artist]
* [http://www.jnwnklmnn.de/geers_e.htm/ Jan Winkelmann "Waiting for the Barbarians" Skulptur-Biennale Münsterland]
* [http://www.galleriacontinua.com/italiano/opere.html?id_artista=7/ Artist's profile at Galleria Continua, including examples of work]
* [http://www.stephenfriedman.com/ Stephen Friedman Gallery, London]
* [http://www.yvon-lambert.com/index_pr.php?section=art_pr&artist=ke_geers/ Artist's profile at Yvon Lambert Gallery, including examples of work]
* [http://vernissage.tv/blog/2007/11/22/kendell-geers-kannibale-yvon-lambert-paris/ Vernissage.tv feature of Geers' exhibition Kannibale]
* [http://vodpod.com/watch/357775-fuckin-summer-2007/ "F***in Summer" video documentation of IRRESPEKTIV, S.M.A.K. Belgium]
* [http://whitehotmagazine.com/whitehot_articles.cfm?id=1116/ "Interview with Becky Hunter" Whitehot Magazine Interview, Jnauary 2008]

Bibliography:

"Argot" (1993) Publisher: Chalkham Hill Press

"Contemporary South African Art" (1997) Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN 978-1868420391

"My Tongue in Your Cheek" (2002) Les Presse Du Reel, France, ISBN 2-7118-4374-2

"Kendell Geers" (2004) Publisher: Mondadori Electa, ISBN 8837030509

"Fingered" (2006) Publisher: Imschoot Uitgevers, ISBN 90 7736 233 9

"IRRESPEKTIV" (2007) Publisher: BOM / Actar, ISBN 978-8493487959

Notes and references


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Kendell Geers — (né en 1968 à Johannesburg[1],[2]) est un artiste contemporain originaire d Afrique du Sud. Sommaire 1 Œuvres 2 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • ThefucKINGFUCKS — Infobox musical artist Name = thefucKINGFUCKS Background = group or band Alias = Red Sniper, S338, SUITE 338, Kissing Kousins, PostPunkPaganPop Origin = Belgium Genre = Industrial rock Alternative rock Performance Art Years active = 2003 present… …   Wikipedia

  • Metronome (artists' and writers' organ) — Metronome is an artists and writers organ[clarification needed] founded in 1996 by Clémentine Deliss. It acts as alternative art publishing, because it has not a fixed editorial team and a fixed location. Its activity started with the publication …   Wikipedia

  • Seven deadly sins — For other uses, see Seven Deadly Sins (disambiguation). Hieronymus Bosch s The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have… …   Wikipedia

  • Conceptual art — Not to be confused with concept art. Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs (1965) Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works,… …   Wikipedia

  • African art — constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize traditional African art, the continent is full of peoples, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Moscow Biennale — State Historical Museum (former Lenin Museum), Moscow The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art is one of the most important Russian cultural events and was founded in 2003. Contents …   Wikipedia

  • David Goldblatt — (born November 29, 1930 in Randfontein, Gauteng Province) is a South African photographer noted for his portrayal of South Africa during the period of apartheid and more recently that country s landscapes. Contents 1 Life and work 2 Exhibitions 2 …   Wikipedia

  • Gwangju Biennale — The Gwangju Biennale, which started in September of 1995 in the city of Gwangju in the South Jeolla province of South Korea, was Asia s first contemporary art biennale. The purpose of Gwangju Biennale is globalization of art and it respect… …   Wikipedia

  • Peter Doroshenko — (born 1962 in Chicago, IL) is the President and Artistic Director of the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine. [ [http://pinchukfund.org/en/media/press releases/2007/68.html American Curator Peter Doroshenko Appointed as the President of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”