Die Basis des Make-Up

Die Basis des Make-Up

Image: 

Drawing (490) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"The continuation of the anonymous letter, Brooklyn 1975: “... The people of President Street are upset of your actions. The little children SEE what's going on in that room. Either you put something to cover your windows, or you get off the block and move. We are waiting 1 week. If you don't cover your windows, you'll hear from us again but next time not so friendly. Thank you for your cooperation.” A degree of uncertainty and distress was the result and we returned to Manhattan in a move already anticipated. On the right-hand side, between the lines of the letter, a woman kneeling on the ground places a warning sign in a white circle. On the left-hand side, a telephone doodle shows a headless female nude, a portrait of my forehead and a French policeman’s head. The deliberate attempt to produce ugliness was successful without any great effort and equally without the ideological contortions of the German painting of the 80s, which was ridiculously referred to as “wild”. I can indeed make out swastikas wherever I look." (From: arsenal, february 17)

(1984) 

Image: 

Drawing (534) from THE BASIS Of MAKE-UP

"Following cosmetic surgery, a woman with her nose still in bandages dreams of a man stripped to the waist among the reeds on a lakeshore. Spots of light and shadow wander across his back, an exemplary feeling of peace without either insects or invectives. Yet lotus leaves on stalks jut into the image from all four sides and the man is scared of getting caught up in the tangle of their roots while swimming. He senses that the treetops of an impenetrable forest lurk under the surface of the water. Then he’s struck with fear at the idea of leaches and snapping turtles attaching themselves to his calves. He leaps out of the water naked and shouts Fuck nature! A uniformed forest warden observes this and shakes his head. The women awakens and is happy that no contact was yet made. She only wants to start showing her face again in social networks once her corrected nose has healed. Then all opportunities will be open to her, as well as the match made in heaven prophesized by the dream." (From: arsenal, june 17)

(2005) 

Image: 

Drawing (414) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"Following cosmetic surgery, a woman with her nose still in bandages dreams of a man stripped to the waist among the reeds on a lakeshore. Spots of light and shadow wander across his back, an exemplary feeling of peace without either insects or invectives. Yet lotus leaves on stalks jut into the image from all four sides and the man is scared of getting caught up in the tangle of their roots while swimming. He senses that the treetops of an impenetrable forest lurk under the surface of the water. Then he’s struck with fear at the idea of leaches and snapping turtles attaching themselves to his calves. He leaps out of the water naked and shouts Fuck nature! A uniformed forest warden observes this and shakes his head. The women awakens and is happy that no contact was yet made. She only wants to start showing her face again in social networks once her corrected nose has healed. Then all opportunities will be open to her, as well as the match made in heaven prophesized by the dream." (From: arsenal, june 17)

(2005) 

Image: 

Drawing (178) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"Two cyclists whose silhouettes cast shadows on a straight road photographed by Silke Grossmann in Amsterdam at the end of the 70s, with a section of her profile visible to the right. She is looking into a historically defined space of infinite depth and height in which British parachutists float down from the sky during the Normandy Invasion of 1944. Many of the soldiers were shot straight out of the sky. At the time, there were still allotments on the site of what is now Schiphol Airport, complete with sheds where Swiss art lover and hotelier Hans Obrecht and subsequent director of the Stedelijk Museum Willem Sandberg kept Jewish children hidden. Thirty years later, Obrecht painted a door on the ceiling of his sick wife’s bedroom at the Hotel Amstelrust on Amstel 252, as she was confined to the bed and suffered upon awakening from the feeling of being trapped in a room without any way out. The power of the imaginary was supposed to overcome the realism of fear and did so indeed." From: arsenal, may 17

(1977) 

Image: 

Drawing (53) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"Two cyclists whose silhouettes cast shadows on a straight road photographed by Silke Grossmann in Amsterdam at the end of the 70s, with a section of her profile visible to the right. She is looking into a historically defined space of infinite depth and height in which British parachutists float down from the sky during the Normandy Invasion of 1944. Many of the soldiers were shot straight out of the sky. At the time, there were still allotments on the site of what is now Schiphol Airport, complete with sheds where Swiss art lover and hotelier Hans Obrecht and subsequent director of the Stedelijk Museum Willem Sandberg kept Jewish children hidden. Thirty years later, Obrecht painted a door on the ceiling of his sick wife’s bedroom at the Hotel Amstelrust on Amstel 252, as she was confined to the bed and suffered upon awakening from the feeling of being trapped in a room without any way out. The power of the imaginary was supposed to overcome the realism of fear and did so indeed." From: arsenal, may 17

(1977) 

Image: 

Drawing (447) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"A giraffe’s head that has mutated into a sofa bed towers above a portrait of a woman that has been split into four pieces. Lost in thought, she observes an electrically operated hand, which is serving a glass in front of a razor blade. A rod with two further plastic hands at each end is located above it, as well as a broom turned upside down and mounted on top of a stick, which juts out into the image. The woman thinks: These are all semantic perspectives whose meaning I can’t recognize, although it’s right in front of me. I could perhaps understand everything better if I split myself into four pieces. But to start with, I should just go to sleep and no longer feel any regret. She falls asleep and enjoys an attack of guiltlessness. Upon awakening, she puts herself back together and decides to get someone else to do her work. A self-driving car politely stops to let her cross the street. She expresses her thanks with a nod, which is broadcast to a central office. Aren’t people friendly today, thinks an official. The woman calls April April into the hidden camera.." From: arsenal, april 17

(1993) 

Image: 

Drawing (556) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"A giraffe’s head that has mutated into a sofa bed towers above a portrait of a woman that has been split into four pieces. Lost in thought, she observes an electrically operated hand, which is serving a glass in front of a razor blade. A rod with two further plastic hands at each end is located above it, as well as a broom turned upside down and mounted on top of a stick, which juts out into the image. The woman thinks: These are all semantic perspectives whose meaning I can’t recognize, although it’s right in front of me. I could perhaps understand everything better if I split myself into four pieces. But to start with, I should just go to sleep and no longer feel any regret. She falls asleep and enjoys an attack of guiltlessness. Upon awakening, she puts herself back together and decides to get someone else to do her work. A self-driving car politely stops to let her cross the street. She expresses her thanks with a nod, which is broadcast to a central office. Aren’t people friendly today, thinks an official. The woman calls April April into the hidden camera." From: arsenal, april 17

(1993) 

Image: 

Drawing (349) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"During the First Gulf War, two helicopters drop off soldiers close to Kuwaiti oil wells already in flames. A pair of handcrafted English gentleman’s shoes float down to earth in the clouds of smoke, positive and negative. The scenery switches to one of the rooms of the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia, where dozens of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir were exhibited in a Petersburg hanging. Just in passing: have the newly constructed museums of Modern Art in the Gulf States actually opened or are they closed again already? Are their Western directors still grateful for their buildings’ over-the-top architectures? And are there still artists proud to have their work exhibited there or are they all dead already? A wide spread sense of horror in contemporary art: the epistemological value of exhibits obtained with the help of crookedly self-righteous indulgent payments rapidly fades. According to the warning sign on the wall, this could be placed in relation to their monetary value. The wrecking ball is already waiting." (From: arsenal, march 17).

(1994) 

Image: 

Drawing (329) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"During the First Gulf War, two helicopters drop off soldiers close to Kuwaiti oil wells already in flames. A pair of handcrafted English gentleman’s shoes float down to earth in the clouds of smoke, positive and negative. The scenery switches to one of the rooms of the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia, where dozens of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir were exhibited in a Petersburg hanging. Just in passing: have the newly constructed museums of Modern Art in the Gulf States actually opened or are they closed again already? Are their Western directors still grateful for their buildings’ over-the-top architectures? And are there still artists proud to have their work exhibited there or are they all dead already? A wide spread sense of horror in contemporary art: the epistemological value of exhibits obtained with the help of crookedly self-righteous indulgent payments rapidly fades. According to the warning sign on the wall, this could be placed in relation to their monetary value. The wrecking ball is already waiting." (From: arsenal, march 17).

(1994) 

Image: 

Drawing (151) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"The continuation of the anonymous letter, Brooklyn 1975: “... The people of President Street are upset of your actions. The little children SEE what's going on in that room. Either you put something to cover your windows, or you get off the block and move. We are waiting 1 week. If you don't cover your windows, you'll hear from us again but next time not so friendly. Thank you for your cooperation.” A degree of uncertainty and distress was the result and we returned to Manhattan in a move already anticipated. On the right-hand side, between the lines of the letter, a woman kneeling on the ground places a warning sign in a white circle. On the left-hand side, a telephone doodle shows a headless female nude, a portrait of my forehead and a French policeman’s head. The deliberate attempt to produce ugliness was successful without any great effort and equally without the ideological contortions of the German painting of the 80s, which was ridiculously referred to as “wild”. I can indeed make out swastikas wherever I look." (From: arsenal, february 17).

(1984) 

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