Jan Albers / Daniela Steinfeld

Opening reception Thursday, May 6, 6-8pm

Room 01: Sara Meltzer Gallery is proud to present Jan Albers' JAN ELECTRIC. In this new series of conceptual paintings, Albers appropriates images from various aspects of twentieth century art history. These selected and recognizable images are appropriated through a variety of manipulations. The paintings are made in oil stick on canvas. Each work exists as a kind of homage to Albers influences and effectively celebrates the master painters and paintings he depicts. By recontextualizing the imagery of such greats as Duchamp, Lichtenstein, Johns, Orozco, and Indiana, among others, Albers creates a personalized history of art and divulges the sources that directly inform his process. Albers’ method of adaptation becomes the subject matter; he successfully creates objects that pay tribute through departure while still strongly keeping hold on his interest to ultimately memorialize the availability of the image.

This marks Jan Albers’ third exhibition at Sara Meltzer Gallery. He is a graduate of the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf where he studied under Jan Dibbets. He has had solo exhibitions at Bernier-Tanit Gallery, Brussels; Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen; Konrad Fischer Galerie, Dusseldorf and Jablonka Galerie, Koln.

Room 02 + Video Wall: Sara Meltzer Gallery is proud to present Daniela Steinfeld's Manmountain. Steinfeld continues her interest in the relationships between photography, sculpture, and performance. These new photographs depict performers interacting with public sculptures. They set their bodies within the stone or bronze of the sculptures, instantly creating a dialogue between the two forms. The sculptures are mostly idealized male figures, war and hero monuments, that have fallen out of the public eye. These performative-based interactions appropriate the sculptures for their use, and as a result bring them back to life. Steinfeld has created a symbiotic relationship between the animate and inanimate.

Daniela Steinfeld’s new video Barbarossaboy will be exhibited on the video wall. In Barbarossaboy (Love Reign O'er Me), Steinfeld expands upon the Manmountain. A boy, sitting by a fountain playing with water appears as if he were one of the fountain's surrounding sculptures coming to life. The title and soundtrack, taken from a song by The Who, combine with the slow-motion speed of the video to impose a psychological dialogue between the subject and his setting.

This marks Daniela Steinfeld’s fifth solo exhibition with Sara Meltzer Gallery. Steinfeld studied at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf and has served as Artist in Residence at the Chinati Foundation. She has exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Jablonka Galerie Linn Luehn, Cologne; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Vous Etes Ici, Amsterdam; Fries Museum, Leeuwarden; Konrad Fischer Galerie, Dusseldorf; Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf; Museum Folkwang, Essen and the Kunsthall, Rotterdam. Steinfeld is the founder of Van Horn, a new art space in Dusseldorf.

Room 01: Jan Albers, JAN ELECTRIC
Room 02: Daniela Steinfeld, Manmountain
Video Wall: Daniela Steinfeld, Barbarossaboy (Love Reign O'er Me)