The works of the American artist Edward Bekkerman are impressive. The artist leaves traces in various sequences of images that sometimes pose riddles. At the same time, it is these enigmatic pictorial achievements that inspire us to engage intensively, indeed to demand a discussion, as it were. In our exhibition, important contributions from almost all picture series of the last few years can be seen, which are indeed unparalleled.
Image Edward Bekkerman, Face#6 (detail), 2020, mixed media on canvas, 132 x 124 cm, © ABA Gallery, New York
The title “Labyrinths of Love”, on which this exhibition is based, may generally be regarded as a pictorial programme for Bekkermann’s art. His pictorial intent is characterised by personal symbolism as well as universal motifs. His angelic figures invite us to treat them tenderly, to love them and to do them good. At times, faces look at us as if they wanted to enter into a dialogue with us. On the other hand, they are also intensely preoccupied with themselves.
The labyrinth table is extremely emphasised in the two series “Victories” and “Spirit & Dreams”. While the former offers a glimpse into a kind of round labyrinth, in the latter the nature of such a maze is more complex. Here it is obviously difficult to escape, as all the abstractly depicted beings are very densely interwoven, so that, taking up the Greek myth, one must have an Ariadne’s thread to get out safely. In these works we see at the same time a coupling of man and animal, sometimes also beings that seem to be extraterrestrial. Obviously, the unfathomable determines the essence of these pictures. In this respect, Labyrinth is not only a pictorially correct title from a production aesthetic point of view, but also with regard to its reception by us viewers. The labyrinth is our symbolic path of destiny, it is our test, ultimately our secret. Our cultural history has known the tradition of the labyrinth for 5000 years.
Starting from a very personal style, Bekkermann’s works show us a peinture that is very differentiated and refined. In the series of “Hats” alone, these hats perched on the heads of the sitters are uncatchable examples of a glow of colour. No hat resembles the other, no application of paint is repeated, the hats are made to shine by colours and an inner light – there are hardly any examples in the history of art of this refined way of colouring this headdress.
WHEN?
Vernissage: Friday, 16 September 2022, at 7.00 p.m.
Exhibition dates: Thursday 17 September 2022 – Sunday 15 January 2023
Ticket for the Kunstquartier
including Emil Schumacher Museum and Osthaus Museum
COSTS?
Adults 7,00 Euro
Family ticket (parents with children up to the age of 18) 14,00 Euro
Children under 6 years free
Eligible for a discount:
Children and young people from the age of 6 until the age of 18, schoolchildren, students, trainees, compulsory military service, persons doing alternative service, severely disabled persons with ID, unemployed persons and social welfare recipients with ID 3.50 Euro
Holders of a Ehrenamtskarte NRW receive a 25% reduction on the regular admission price
Accompanying person of a severely disabled person with ID (marked B) free of charge
School classes per pupil 1,50 Euro
Groups from 12 persons per person 5,00 Euro
Family ticket I (parents with children up to the age of 18) 15,00 Euro
Family ticket II (single parents with children up to the age of 18) 8,00 Euro
Adults combined ticket Kunstquartier and Hohenhof 8,00 Euro
Combiticket Kunstquartier and Hohenhof – reduced group 4,50 Euro
Family ticket I as combination ticket Kunstquartier and Hohenhof 17,00 Euro
Family ticket II as combination ticket Kunstquartier and Hohenhof 9,00 Euro
Annual ticket adult incl. Hohenhof 50,00 Euro
Annual ticket for the reduced group of persons incl. Hohenhof 25,00 Euro
WHERE?
Osthaus Museum Museumsplatz 3
58095 Hagen
