Galerie Barbara Thumm

\Mukenge/SchellhammerForward flight – Flucht nach vorn02.03. - 20.04.2024

Christ Mukenge, *1988 in Kinshasa, Kongo and Lydia Schellhammer, *1992 in Konstanz, Germany.
The duo live and work in Berlin and Kinshasa.

Image: Digital Collage by Mukenge/Schellhammer combining Acrylics on canvas, acrylics on congolese wax fabric filled with absorbent cotton, digital drawing, Berlin 2024

Press text (DE/ENG)

Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn – is a German idiom that denotes a moment of danger or impossible retreat in which the only solution is to throw oneself headfirst into the threatening situation. With one’s back against the wall, the only way out is to flee forward.

„Forward Flight“ is the third part of a series of works on contemporary mythologies. After the first chapter „Barking dogs in the head“ (Kinshasa, 2022) and the second chapter „Undigested Images“ (Berlin and Stuttgart, 2023), the third part tells the mythical genesis of that strange creature Mukenge/Schellhammer itself. Forward Flight is a classic monomyth, a hero’s journey.

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Performance

Exhibition Views

Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn

Selected Works

Highlights
Mixed Media
Paintings
Performances & Videos
Sculptures and Installations
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Sharkattac (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Sharkattac (2023)
Acrylics on canvas
230 x 200 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Cartographie Mentale (Autoportrait) (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Cartographie Mentale (Autoportrait) (2023)
Acrylics on canvas
112 x 158 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Wata (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Wata (2023)
Acrylic on Congolese wax fabric, filling absorbent cotton
60 x 170 x 25 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Die Dinge sehen, wie sie sind (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Die Dinge sehen, wie sie sind (2023)
Acrylics, pencil and spray paint on canvas
248 x 139 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Guerre d’esprit Il (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Guerre d'esprit Il (2023)
Mixed media
108 x 186 x 42 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Guerre d’esprit, Les fleurs du mal I (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Guerre d'esprit, Les fleurs du mal I (2023)
Acrylics and oil pastel on canvas
107 x 190 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Empfindungen vor Friedrichs Seelandschaft (2024)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Empfindungen vor Friedrichs Seelandschaft (2024)
Acrylics on canvas
Video: 4:02 min
dimensions variable
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Ndeke ya butu (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Ndeke ya butu (2023)
Acrylics and oil pastel on canvas; acrylics on Congolese wax fabric, filling absorbent cotton
dimensions variable
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Maki & Feuerball 3.0 (2024)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Maki & Feuerball 3.0 (2024)
Mixed media
214 x 340 x 110 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Maki & Feuerball I (2024)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Maki & Feuerball I (2024)
Acrylics on canvas
190 x 300 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Maki & Feuerball II (2024)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Maki & Feuerball II (2024)
Acrylics on canvas
300 x 190 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ Tati Wata & Loreley (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

Tati Wata & Loreley (2023)
Acrylic on fabric
230 x 300 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Mukenge/Schellhammer – Forward flight – Flucht nach vorn \ BO$$ (2023)

Mukenge/Schellhammer

BO$$ (2023)
Acrylic on congolese wax fabric
35 x 25 x 15 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm

\George Bolster200 Billion Suns02.03. - 20.04.2024

George Bolster ( *1972) lives and works in New York, USA and Cork, Ireland

Press text (DE/ENG)

As a species, we are living through successive revolutions, initially through the internet, and now the rise of AI, simultaneously, with the James Webb Telescope the physics of the cosmos has to be completely reevaluated.

We now know that the Big Bang was not the first, and that seven hundred and seventeen galaxies are now newly observable. Bolster’s wonder at these successive life altering sets of circumstances gives full rein to his singular speculative fictitious versions of geographical depictions of exoplanets. Each work encompasses numerous processes both analogue such as painting, embroidery, and debroidery; and digital through different image augmentation and digital drawing processes.

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Exhibition Views

Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns

Selected Works

Highlights
Paintings
Tapestry
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ The Sublime on Kepler 16b (2024)

George Bolster

The Sublime on Kepler 16b (2024)
Acrylic on jacquard tapestry
200 x 149 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ Mars 300,000 AD (2023)

George Bolster

Mars 300,000 AD (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches

In this tapestry work, Bolster combines painting and textile. The image is a composite fantasy derived from images recorded in the region presently known as American South-West. Its epic, astonishing, and unearthly landscapes have been the inspiration for countless science fiction films, and the artist’s research trip there resulted in a series of related works and film pieces, post his (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) SETI residency.
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ Proxima Centauri B, 280,000 AD (2023)

George Bolster

Proxima Centauri B, 280,000 AD (2023)
59 x 79 inches
149.86cm x 200.66cm

Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, and is four light years (38.9 trillion km) away from us. It is thought to have the right conditions to sustain life —not to hot and not to cold, referred to as being in the Goldilocks Zone— but the planet has massive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The artist depicts it as speculative fiction, as it is impossible to see it, and all of the exoplanets in a detailed way with current technologies given the vast distances involved.
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ The Last Humanmade Artwork (2023)

George Bolster

The Last Humanmade Artwork (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches

We are living through two distinct revolutions in a very short time. First was the advent of the internet, and now we have Artificial Intelligence. The rapidity and lack of legislation regarding both has resulted in a series of unforeseen societal affects. The artist seeks to highlight the propensity for fraud in ideas and thinking, and the dangerous laziness the latter technology could inspire. Bolster laments the struggle implicit in a vocation like art, and wonders where this will end considering how short this species technological history actually is.
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ On Planet Octavia Butler there are two Suns (2024)

George Bolster

On Planet Octavia Butler there are two Suns (2024)
Acrylic on jacquard tapestry
80 x 60 cm
More works by this artist
Galerie Barbara Thumm \ George Bolster – 200 Billion Suns \ TRAPPIST 1: 300,897AD (2023)

George Bolster

TRAPPIST 1: 300,897AD (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches

The surface of exoplanets is a subject of intense speculation and debate among scientists. They are found through a process of monitoring the light changes in front of different suns. So far, over 5,000 planets have been found. TRAPPIST 1 is an earthlike planet, confirmed to be rocky, but little else is known about the surface. Bolster proposes a speculative version, which until disproved could prove to be the case. These fantastical representations attempt to increase peoples interest in astronomy and the future, as it could look to our descendants.
More works by this artist