Alexander Gorlizki: Guard Your Belongings (2012), Pigment and Gold on Paper, 26,8×20,9 cm. Added to the collection in 2012.
Since I started uploading photos of the works of the collection on this website, I drove me almost crazy that I again and again had to find out that I had forgotten to upload certain pieces and today it happened again, I discovered this one has been left out: Guard Your Belongings by Alexander Gorlizki. This is in fact the first Alexander Gorlizki work that I have acquired in 2012 and since then many more have followed by this artist who resides in NYC. So in many ways this is a very important piece to me since the work already shows what allured me to Alexanders work and it contains many of the qualities that I enjoy until today in all his ouevre: The creative composition, absurdity and surrealism, innocence turns into insidious constellations, witty humour, intricate miniature painting as an unusual technique in contemporary drawing, interesting objects with humorous phantastic additions such as the “Bucket Dog” or a “Zebra Horse” in this piece. A man is on a poetic ride on the rose water in his small sailing boat, down from an open gate where the rose flood has begun. Beautiful ornaments in the background and in this case water lilys on the frame. In the background Alexander chose a photography that he partially covered with amorphic forms, some of the intensity is kept while the tension is resolved by fading the persons in the background. The couple is likely Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the tree on the right is the Frangipani Tree, that can flower in white or pink. They eye of the beholder must choose wether the ornaments or the persons are what he sees as the primary object in the foreground. Despite its use of a traditional painting technique, composition, motives and details turn it into a timeless beauty of an artwork.
Alexander Gorlizki is exhibited worldwide, in 2018 he has solo exhibitions in India, Austria and starting next week “Together, Forever, Now” at Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
A Frangipani Tree in real life shot by Ryaz Uddin
CV Alex Gorlizki
1967 born in London/ UK
1994 MFA in Sculpture, Slade School, London/ UK
1992 B.A. Hons Fine Art, Bristol Polytechnic/ UK
1991 Foundation Course in Art and Design, Bristol Polytechnic/ UK
Currently lives and works in New York/ USA.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Together, Forever, Now, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2017 Pink City Studio Beyond Malabar Gallery, Kochi/ IN
2016 Subtle Bodies, Saucy Lines, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Cologne/ D
2015-2016 Variable Dimensions, Crow Collection, Dallas/ USA
2015 Special Presentation, Van Doren Waxter, New York/ USA
2014 We Are One, Galerie Eric Mouchet, Paris/ F
What Gives?, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen/ USA
2013 Are We There Yet?, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Cologne/ D
For Immediate Release, Van Doren Waxter, New York/ USA
2012 We Like It Here, We’re Not Moving, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai/ IN
2011 Terms and Conditions Apply, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
2010 The First Time I Heard You Blink, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York/ USA
Pre-existing conditions, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco/ USA
2009 Appointments & Disappointments, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
Soft Succulent Sublime, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles/ USA
2008 Lunchmeat on my Pantsuit, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia/ USA
What grows here?, Joost van den Bergh Gallery, London/ UK
Gallery Joe, Philadelphia/ USA
Alexander Gorlizki & Indian Spells, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh/ UK
Strange you can believe in, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles/ USA
2007 Works on Paper, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
2006 Pipedreams, collaboration with Riyaz Uddin, Joost van Bergh Gallery, London/ UK
2004 Plastic Mystic, Huddersfield City Art Gallery/ UK
Genuine Fake, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
Out of This World, collaboration with Riyaz Uddin, Ben Jannsen Gallery, London/ UK
2003 Classroom, PS122 Project Space, New York/ USA
Breathless, in Collaboration with Riyaz Uddin. Ben Jannsen Gallery, London/ UK
North Sea Circle – Viewer’s Cut, in collaboration with Richard Coldman, Globe Gallery, North Shields/ UK
2000 Introspektive, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
Import/ Export, Vilma Gold Gallery, London/ UK
1999 Seven (Unknown) Famous Belgians, De Chiara/ Stewart Gallery, New York/ USA
1997 Alexander Gorlizki Collection, RAU, London/ UK
1995 24 Crucifix Lane, Bermondsey, London/ UK
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 “living a dream … “, alexander gorlizki / magic markings / gugging artists, Galerie Gugging, Maria Gugging/ AU
2017 Washington 186, Aeroplastics Brussels/ B
Thinking Tantra, curated by Rebecca Heald, Peninsula Arts, Plymouth/ US
Zeichnung 17, Michael Sturm Gallery, Stuttgart / D
Drawing Biennial 2017, The Drawing Room, London/ UK
2016 LIMINAL LYRICS, curated by Hedwig Brouckaert, KUNSTRAUM Gallery, Brooklyn, NY/ USA
Thinking Tantra, The Drawing Room, London/ UK
Traversing Traditions/India, curated by Kathryn Myers, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT/ USA
Le Contemporaine Dessiné, Musée des Artes Décoratifs, Paris/ F
2015 Hoogtepunten uit de collectie, Museum de Buitenplaats, Eelde/ NL
2013 40 Years At The Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Ambach and Rice, Los Angeles/ USA
Considering Collage, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai/ IN
Approaching Infinity: The Richard Green Collection of Meticulous Abstraction,
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento/ USA
2012 Bear Necessities, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco/ USA
Embellised Reality: Indian Painted Photographs, Royal Ontario Museum/ CAN
Walking the Line IV, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Cologne/ D
2011 Espaces de destins – espèces de dessins, Le Dix-neuf, CRAC Montbéliard/ F
Walking the Line III, Kudlek van der Grinten, Cologne/ D
Watching Me Watching You, Denver ARt Museum, Denver/ USA
The Art of Giving, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco/ USA
2010 Walking the line II, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
Bestiary, The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY,
curated by Sally Morgan Lehman, Liz Parks, Sally Zunino, New York/ USA
2009 Drawing, Valerie McKenzie Fine Art, New York/ USA
On Paper, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris/ F
Another Damned Drawing Show, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles/ USA
2008 Conversations, Kettles Yard, Cambrige/ UK
Newfangled Licks, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington/ USA
Wir für Euch, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
Walking the line, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne/ D
It‘s Gouache and Gouache only, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York/ USA
2007 Timothy Taylor Gallery, London/ UK
2006 The next Doing, Geoffrey Young Gallery, New Barrington/ USA
Table Top, Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York/ USA
Fine Line, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York/ USA
2005 Drawings, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
2004 Project Artists, PS122 Studios, New York/ USA
2001 Drawings, Curated by Shirley Morales, De Chiara Gallery, New York/ USA
The Globe, Kunstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz/ A
DarkLight, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
2000 Where Have All The People Gone?, De Chiara/ Stewart Gallery, New York/ USA
Drawings, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
1999 RWA Sculpture Triennial, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol/ UK
Father Apollinaris Said, Curated by Adrian George. Vilma Gold Gallery, London/ UK
1998 Absolut Cobblers, The Concourse Gallery, Barbican Centre, London/ UK
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2002 Restless Spirits, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
2001 DarkLight, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne/ D
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2011 Crow, Kelly, “At Armory, Fast Food, 3-D and Some New Big Guns,”
The Wall Street Journal, Saturday / Sunday March 5-6, C14. (illus.)
Leigh, Bobbie, “Big Deals and Big Win at the Armory,” www.luxist.com, March 5 (illus.).
2010 The Millbrook Independent, “Wassaic Project’s Bestiary,” Wednesday, June 30.
Smith, Roberta, “Alexander Gorlizki: The First Time I Heard You Blink,”
The New York Times, April 29.
Baker, Kenneth, “Alexander Gorlizki echoes India at Berggruen,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 7.
2009 LA Times, “Revisiting the art of the minitature,” Friday, November 13, 2009.
Kunstforum, March.
2008 Smith, Roberta, “Fair Goes From Feast to Tasting Menu,” The New York Times, March 15.
2007 Eden, Laura, “Alexander Gorlizki,” Elle Décor, December.
Herbert, Martin, “Paper Baglady and Other Stories,” Time Out, London, July.
2000 “Kunst des Absurden,” Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, November 26.
Mattes, Steffan, Megacult.net.
Artist Newsletter, May, p.10.
Millennium Monument Magazine, September.
1996 Smith, Roberta, “Thaw,” New York Times, September 13, p. C 30.
Hornor, Dave, “At Art in General, ‘Thaw’ Follows in Footsteps of ‘Frieze.’”
The Tribeca Tribune, Nov. 2, p.28.
McClure, Lisa, Review Magazine, September 15, p. 28.
PUBLICATIONS
Vanishing Point, 2009.
What Grows Here?, exhibition catalogue, 2008.
Bart, Roland, The Globe Catalogue, 2007.
EG 2006 Conference Catalogue, 2006.
I Love You If You Love Me, Ed: 175, 2000.
The European Design Annual, 2000.
Seven (Unknown) Famous Belgians, in collaboration with Nick Eagleton, 1999.
Books by Artists, Ed. Sarah Bodman UWE, 1999.
RWA Sculpture Triennial Catalogue, 1999.
Fixture, exhibition catalogue, essay by Nick Eagleton, 1999.
Thaw, exhibition catalogue, essay by Laurie De Chiara, 1999.
Yori, Ed : 100, 1996.
And Other Drawings, Ed : 100, 1995.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA // Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, D // Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, CA // Victoria & Albert Museum, London, GB // Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA // Collection Antoine de Galbert, Paris, F // Artothèque Limousin, Limoges, F // Museum de Buitenplaats, Eelde NL
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2003/2004 PS122 Studio Residency, New York
2003 The Classroom. PS122 New York
Duveen Travel Award for research in Pakistan, China & Tibet
Research funding for publication from U.W.E. Bristol
European Design Annual 5, 2000 – Certificate of Excellence
Press Release by Berggruen Gallery
Berggruen Gallery is pleased to present Alexander Gorlizki: Together, Forever, For Now, an exhibition of recent works on paper, sculpture and design by New York City-based artist Alexander Gorlizki. This show marks Gorlizki’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and will be on view November 29 through December 24, 2018. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Thursday, November 29 from 5:00 to 7:00pm.
Gorlizki’s works on paper, upon one’s first cursory glance, appear to be highly detailed and ornamental Indian miniatures, made with undeniably extraordinary skill. After passing one’s eyes over the works briefly, one’s head snaps back in realization that what appeared to be traditionally-attired princes sitting atop horses in intricately patterned courtly surroundings, are in fact amalgamized creations, part man, part lion or finch or elephant, riding on the back of a pigeon or rhinoceros or seal patterned with tiger print in an imaginary world of Gorlizki’s own making. He utilizes textile patterns from Japan and Malaysia, photographs of Hollywood darlings, Hindu spiritual imagery, illustrated Victorian handbooks, and cosmological diagrams, each recontextualized and combined to create a new narrative. The traditional is in fact the whimsical, the absurd, a world of the fantastic where nothing is as it appears. Scale is abandoned in favor of intrigue. History is set aside to give way to the unexpected, a delightful pastiche of seemingly incongruous objects and patterns from different times, places and fields that juxtapose and combine together to envisage a witty world of the imagination that is simultaneously celebratory and subversive. Gorlizki is inspired by a myriad of sources, including Eastern and Western, historical and contemporary, artistic and everyday. Each work, filled to overflowing with infinitesimally precise details, invites one to get close and examine it and appreciate not only the humor and irony of the people, creatures, places and patterns depicted, but also the immensely talented abilities of the human hand that rendered the work itself.
Having discovered a love of Indian Miniature painting, but wanting to use it toward his ends, in 1996, Gorlizki established a studio in Jaipur, India with the master miniaturist painter Riyaz Uddin. Uddin and the other artists in his atelier, each with his own expertise, are renowned for painting with a single-hair-tipped brush in the 600-year-old Mughal miniature style. Gorlizki himself focuses on the conceptual, imaginative and formal aspect of the image, which he draws onto antique or distressed papers and photographs. He then passes each sheet off to the miniaturists, who apply the pigments and gold leaf. Gorlizki adapts and working side by side in the studio or shipping images back and forth between New York and Jaipur, the paintings evolve layer by layer, often over a period of years. In this way, each work is a collaboration, a trans-global dialogue between artists that results in a richness that spans time and space to create something uniquely of our time.
While rich and complex enough to constitute Gorlizki’s entire artistic output, the artist’s creativity is not limited to the two-dimensional. Alexander Gorlizki: Together, Forever, For Now will highlight a selection of Gorlizki’s sculptural works. In these small sculptures, whether painted wood, cast brass, marble or found object, Gorlizki further articulates his narrative, questioning perception. These intriguing and playful sculptures pull Gorlizki’s subjects from his two-dimensional painted miniatures into the viewer’s space, allowing one to interact with the subject as an object itself. Gorlizki’s sense of humor is blatant and infectious when one examines his amorphic and whimsical sculptures, from his ornamentally and brightly painted wooden pieces that twist and turn in space to the small brass monsters, each with his or her own name–Bev, Gus, Mel and Ned. The meticulous patterning of these miniature paintings, too, is brought to life, as one wall in the gallery is wallpapered with Gorlizki’s design, a complex pattern of black, white and gray. It is when Gorlizki’s body of work is seen collectively–the works on paper beside the sculptures in front of the walls festooned with the artist’s own wallpaper–that one is truly able to appreciate the witty, ironic, subversive and playful world, truly manifold, that Gorlizki imagines and it is within this world that one is encouraged and prompted, to reexamine one’s own perception.
Alexander Gorlizki was born in London in 1967. He received his B.A. from Bristol Polytechnic and his M.F.A. in sculpture from the Slade School, London, U.K. His work is included in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Collection Antoine de Galbert, Paris; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, CA, the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO. Recent solo exhibitions include Galerie Martin Kudlek, Cologne, Germany; Pink City Studio, Beyond Malabra Gallery, Kochi, India; Variable Dimensions, Crow Collection, Dallas. Recent group exhibitions include “living a dream…” alexander gorlizki / magic makings / gugging artists, Galerie Gugging, Maria Gugging, Austria; Washington 186, Aeroplastics, Brussels; Thinking Tantra, The Drawing Room, London (traveled). Gorlizki lives and works in New York.
Alexander Gorlizki: Together, Forever, For Now, November 29 – December 24, 2018. On view at 10 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.