Hermann Nitsch 60.Painting Action // 60.
Malaktion
February 19th – March 19th,
2011
Painting action open to the public February 15th – 16th
Reception Saturday February 19th, 6 – 8 pm
Hermann Nitsch / 56th Malaktion MZM Museum
Mistlebach /
2009
Mike Weiss Gallery is proud to host the first live painting action within
the United States by Hermann Nitsch, founding member of the Viennese Actionism
movement. On February 15th and 16th, the gallery is open to the public for the
rare chance to see Nitsch and his assistants perform a series of ritualistic
painting acts. Through their directed and unrelenting splattering, pouring,
smearing, and brushing of paint, viewers see plain canvases transform into
evocative, evidentiary paintings. These works are exhibited at the gallery
following the performance, from February 19th through March 19th, 2011.
Rebelling against the devastating silence that typified the aftermath of
World War II in Austria, Nitsch encourages the gushing, cathartic outburst of
expression at its most raw and uncensored. He proclaims that to understand life,
one must realize the emotional extremities that define it, from ecstatic elation
to brutal sadness.
Nitsch's initial notoriety was tied to his Orgies Mysteries
Theater, a series of six-day long events that he originally staged in the
1960s. The expressly honest and corporeal performances entailed the sacrificial
butchering of animals and pouring of blood over the participants, who were tied
naked to crossed slabs of wood recalling a crucifixion. Through the
reappropriation of blood sacrifice, Nitsch echoes humanity's universal and
timeless religious association of blood with spirituality, empowerment,
protection, and healing.
In 1989, Hermann Nitsch transitioned his medium from blood to paint to
explore the life-affirming properties of light and color. Nitsch and his
assistants assimilate the indoctrination of religious ceremonies through both
collective action and white robed dress. As the action takes place, the robes
are stained with paint and become reverential mementos of the performance. Like
relics from a bygone era, the unpremeditated final images in the exhibition are
testaments of activity and remnants of a life in its full, expressive range.
Hermann Nitsch is one of the most acclaimed European artists of his
generation. He has influenced a host of artists as diverse as Carolee
Schneemann and Damien Hirst. His paintings are included in several American
collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art,
and the Guggenheim Museum. In addition to major European museums, the Austrian
government created a Herman Nitsch Museum near his home in Prinzendorf, Austria.
Concurrent with this exhibition, The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver will
present Bloodlines: Paintings by Hermann Nitsch from February 4th
through May 29th,
2011.
February 15th – 16th painting action hours to be determined. Contact
the gallery for details.
Mike Weiss
Gallery
520 West 24th Street, New York, NY
10011
Between 10th and 11th
Avenues
Nearest Subway: C/E 23rd Street & 8th
Avenue
Tel: 212- 691-6899 Fax: 212-691-6877
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 10 to
6
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