ANTJE MAJEWSKI

September 25 - November 15, 2003, Milano

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Press Release

ANTJE MAJEWSKI25 September - 15 November 2003 We are happy to announce the exhibition by the young German painter Antje Majewski. Large oil paintings, depicting young boys and girls crowding swimming pools and lakes in Berlin during the summer, will be on show. These are scenes of everyday life, and may seem familiar, but they are not completely understandable, as if they come out of a dream. The artist paints using photos and videos which have often been edited on a computer, and reveals her own mental image derived not only from observation, but also from memories and concepts within her conscience. In the water and in the air, the symbols of purity and freedom, these boys and girls are caught in the critical passage through adolescence, when a new element appears in their play: sensuality. Their bodies, no longer those of children and not yet those of adults, and their enigmatic expressions contrast with the clearly framed moment in which they are represented. The resultant suspended atmosphere leads the viewer into adolescent memories and feelings. Born in 1968 at Marl (Westphalia), between 1987 and 1995 Antje Majewski studied History of Art, History and Philosophy in Köln, Florence, and Berlin, where she currently lives and works. Majewski's paintings are based on photography. Her work has developed in cycles dedicated to specific themes, such as for example in the show entitled L'invitation au voyage held in the Kunsthalle in Basel in 2001, comprising the cycles Friends and Lovers, Lovely, Games and Masks, or the show at the Kunstverein in Ulm which included two cycles, Homeless and Prisoners. Antje Majewski's works have been exhibited in one-man shows at the Kunsthalle in Basel and the Kunstverein in Ulm (2001) and in the Neugerriemschneider gallery in Berlin (1997, 1999 and 2001) and the AspreyJacques gallery in London (1999 and 2003). She has also taken part in many collective shows, such as Malkunst at the Fondazione Mudima in Milan in 1999, Salon at London's Delfina Studios in 2000, and The Contemporary Face - From Pablo Picasso to Alex Katz at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, as well as Abbild at the Landesmuseum Johanneum in Graz in 2001, and Painting on the Move at the Kunsthalle in Basel, in 2002.


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