Phantom Limb
Exhibition of the Studio for Art and Image I Figuration, curated by Chris Clarke
Artists:
June Ahn, Laura Hvidtfeldt Andersen, Sarah Marie von Bernstorff, Olesia Bieliavtseva, Merve Ceylan, Irene Cian, Johanna Dasch, Emil Eckert, Roxana Esfandiari, David Hafer Garcia, Elena Gerstl, Anastasiia Glazkova, Sacha Grandemange, Gregor Hagenauer, Juan Malte Haußen, Abigail Hauwede, Karoline Hvidtfeldt, Wenjia Luo, Erik Odin, Linda Partaj, Isabel Gil Penalver, Ivan Penčev, Shiva Pishgahi, Johannes Pobitzer, Laura Raimo, Bahareh Rahimi, Ana Remishvili, St.Ⱥges, Melanie Thöni
Physical and psychic loss aren’t always in alignment. When an appendage is severed or removed, the brain might still register its presence, feel its pain or pleasure and its former connection to the body. The mind thus resists such an abrupt separation, obstinately holding on to the memory of its phantom limb.
This sensation is also a way of talking about the figure, how it is represented by the artist and encountered by the spectator. A painter might strive to capture the physical or phenomenological presence of a body, as a whole or in pieces, or, alternately, could evoke its absence through abstraction, metaphor, or allegory. The artist thus progresses through stages of reflection and realisation, introspection and interpretation, as well as the tactile and technical challenges of transmuting a fluid medium into solid mass: they work with their own body, their gestures and movements, in order to depict another. The spectator of the artwork undergoes a parallel process, from initial perception to prolonged contemplation and, eventually (and ideally), an instinctive, embodied affinity with the image. This connection is felt both aesthetically and deep within their bones.
The artists in Phantom Limb explore the figure, its negotiation and manifestation, in multiple ways. They reveal the body as corporeal, voluminous, fragile and fragmentary, sometimes represented only through its sparse outlines, its props or prostheses. They conjure fleeting memories and ghostly traces, fantastical tableaux and forensic dissections. Their works are haunted by the body, even when it’s only dimly perceivable and lurking in the shadows.