There are some things we only own for a while, without even noticing it. Following on from the acclaimed installation Sidewalk (2009) WAGNER + PARTNER is proud to present the latest exhibition from Maria & Natalia Petschatnikov Briefly Yours. The exhibition connects paintings and objects from three of the Petschatnikovs most recent series, all which subtly investigate the notion of possession and ownership. As so often in their work it is the banal everyday things that are artistically explored and viewed from new angles.
City dogs and their owners, retractable leashes and the obligatory pile on the sidewalk. These are all things that are part of our everyday lives. The installation Dogs is a room full of stylised dogs and a network of leashes where the common becomes comical. Whose leash is leading whom here? Although each individual dog is abstract, when they are considered together, Dogs presents the viewer with many questions.
With Cash, a small-format painted series of banknotes, this idea is developed further. Rolled, creased, piled and in a multitude of variations, these notes mutate into colourful craft paper. Like still lives, these absurd arrangements in oil on parchment tell many stories. In the process the monetary worth becomes secondary.
In U8, a series of paintings of the 24 stations of the Berlin U8 underground line, the investigation expands into urban space: moving across the city, getting out of “ones” station, or commuting to work. Temporarily we own the public space, only to forget it as quickly after use.
Briefly Yours reveals a disregarded phenomenon, an ever-present, fleeting process of appropriation that the artists make playfully known in this, their latest exhibition.
Briefly Yours:Maria & Natalia Petschatnikov continues until 22 October and will be accompanied by an Artist Talk with Dr. Lars Mextorf, writer and curator on Thursday 29 September at 7pm.
galerie-wagner-partner.com
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Image: Maria & Natalia Petschatnikov
Exhibition views: Briefly Yours
Courtesy WAGNER + PARTNER, Berlin
