Greene Contemporary is pleased to present new work by Berlin based artist Sybille Hotz in Körpermuster, opening Wednesday May 27 from 6-9 p.m. and continuing through Sunday June 28, 2009. This is Sybille Hotz' first solo exhibition with Greene Contemporary.
Körpermuster is about an intimate m... Read more
Greene Contemporary is pleased to present new work by Berlin based artist Sybille Hotz in Körpermuster, opening Wednesday May 27 from 6-9 p.m. and continuing through Sunday June 28, 2009. This is Sybille Hotz’ first solo exhibition with Greene Contemporary.
Körpermuster is about an intimate moment. Portrayed through the act of traditional wrestling, these fighting girls show a physical closeness to each other while transforming perceived aggression into gentleness. A snapshot of a powerful moment becomes a soft action. The dichotomy between power and submission is blurred in this world as these faceless girls engage in this intimate moment. The figures are textile cutouts made in wool on cotton cloth. The softness of the materials used in the production of these stitched drawings attract the viewer’s attention to the fabric of every day life. A realistic sensuality ensues as the viewer tries to determine whether the two grapplers are at odds or embracing.
While the faces remain anonymous, the bodies are fully detailed with patterned clothing. Superficially the result of the latest fashion trend, these patterns actually derive from biological, clinical and medicinal graphics sewn into armless and legless wrestling suits. The schematic illustrations of neurons and the organ of equilibrium or veins are multiplied and repeated, concluding with the interior of the human body being taken out to decorate the outside and make it more desirable.
Sybille Hotz creates images on body, death, pain, failure and the relation of the human being to nature. Working within this textile method of embroidering and sewing Hotz is returning the lost vulnerability of these forms of art making to them. Blending delicacy and sketchiness, the stitched thread replaces the drawing pencil and gives it a special rhythm that dangles over the format of the traditional space. The threads serve as a metaphor for fragility.
Hotz was born in 1968 in Darmstadt, Germany. She received her BFA from the School of Art in Braunschweig, Germany and her MFA from the School of Arts Arnhem in the Netherlands. She was recently included in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and also had a solo exhibition at Widmer and Theodoridis in Zurich, Switzerland.
