Christoph Ruckhäberle

Zach Feuer Gallery is pleased to present the second New York exhibition of paintings by Christoph Ruckhäberle.

In Ruckhäberle's paintings, interior rooms set the stage for tall young men and women dressed in simple clothes. The dancing, standing, and sitting figures perform a variety of acts, often with blank stares or somber expressions. The characters, composed in classical poses, contrast with the relaxed rooms. These rooms act as theatrical backdrops where play is carried out with grim faces and animated gestures. Using neutral colors and his signature figure-groups, Ruckhäberle transforms public locations into centers for relaxation. Stages with no directors, the paintings become places where boredom and possibility coexist.

In Ruckhäberle's most recent work, the viewer is able to look at his subject from a new angle – one seems to be watching the scene from under tables, on the ceilings, floating in mid-air. These odd viewing positions extenuate the contorting bodies of his subjects. Perspective is exaggerated and shrunken, legs are stretched, necks curve and everyone seems to be isolated from a game of Twister and placed alone on a stage.

Two catalogs will accompany the exhibition. The first produced by Kerber, is a 132 page cloth bound book with essays by James Trainor and Hans-Werner Schmidt as well as an interview of Ruckhäberle with David Salle. The second catalog is a small artists book in an edition of 500 that includes original lino-cuts of each painting in the exhibition printed by the artist.

Based in Leipzig, Germany, Ruckhäberle's work has been exhibited widely at venues including Mass MOCA, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ulrich Museum KS, Prague Biennial, Rubell Family Collection, the Saatchi Gallery, Aroyan Foundation, Seoul, South Korea and the Museum der bildenden Kunste, Germany.

Pressetext

Christoph Ruckhäberle