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 Hans Hemmert has blown up and seated himself in every room in which he spends much of his time: at home, in his car and in the studio. This was alienating, not only for him, but also for us as viewers, whom he has drawn into the yellow space alongside him by means of his light boxes. At home (1995) in Neukölln seems far away from its inhabitant, although it is indeed only separated from him by a thin yellow skin of latex. This shell, however, defines another space, a spaceship space which leaves the question of the exit unanswered. Objects, walls, ceiling and floor are connected by the yellow latex, through which their flowing outlines become discernible towards the interior. They can no longer clearly be identified or separated from one another. The new space that is created is organic, almost uterine with this one living being in its interior. In his car, Hans Hemmert is driving Along the way (1996), driving without seeing. One is sitting in the back seat, at his mercy, sees the light coming up ahead on the right, and is filled with a sense of foreboding – yet the yellow shell embraces gently, and one is floating noiselessly rather than driving, probably more in the direction of the sun than a large bus. The objects In the studio (1997) have become similarly remote. The spaces defend themselves against usage, hands and gazes slide off their formations. Through the latex skin crowding in on it, the space in a conventional sense has become meaningless – for as long as the air lasts.
Since everyday spaces have now run out on him, Hans Hemmert has made himself a mobile space and has locked us as viewers out for good. Seen from the outside, the yellow latex seems opaque; it renders the artist invisible within its interior. Going by the previous images of the blown-up interiors, one can in any case be sure that he is indeed there and can see us, at least partially. But this is obviously not what it’s about: he doesn’t want to see, but is trying to get hold of the outside world through his grip. Although he can grasp, embrace and envelope things and people, a connection is nonetheless impossible. Hands and feet can only extend a limited amount from within the air-filled bubble. The extension of the body might seem to be expanded – the interior is no longer merely within the body, but inside the balloon as well –, but the shell surrounding it cuts it off from access to the outside. In this way, it can be a Yellow sculpture befitting a ladder (1997), but it can’t use the ladder – or even liberate itself from it without falling like a beetle onto its back. A befitting sculpture, doomed to passivity and adaptation. This reminds one of the uneasiness in the face of objects whose own lives seem eerie to us over and over again. The clear division of the world into subject and object has long since been abolished, and so, like yellow sculptures, we all trip more or less befittingly through the world.
Hans Hemmert
- Born 1960 in Hollstadt
- 1983 - 89 Studium an der Hochschule der Künste Berlin und der St Martins School of Art in London
- Lives and works in Berlin
Scholarship and Prices:
- 1989 Price der Jürgen Ponto Stiftung, Frankfurt/Main
- 1991 Arbeitsstipendium der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur, Berlin
- 1996 Arbeitsstipendium des Kunstfonds e.V., Bonn
- 1998 Arbeitsstipendium der Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, Berlin
Solo exhibitions (Selection)
- 1997 jugend ohne gummistiefel, Galerie Gebauer, Berlin
- 1995 das machÕ ich doch mit links, Galerie Gebauer und Günther, Berlin
- 1993 meta res sua, Galerie Gebauer und Günther, Berlin
- 1992 Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, Nürnberg
- 1991 a little life, Galerie Vincenz Sala, Berlin
Galerie Apunto, Amsterdam (NL)
Galerie Wang, Oslo (N)
Group exhibitions (Selection)
- 1998 Statement, Galerie Gebauer, Art 98, Basel (CH)
Dessins, Gallerie Almine Rech, Paris (F)
Sehen, sehen, Schlegelstrasse, Berlin
- 1997 Photography in Europe, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin (IRL))
installation view, Art Chicago, Chicago (USA)
- 1996 nach weimar, Kunstsammlung zu Weimar, Weimar*
Laboratorium Grenzenlos: Berlin in Moskau, Contemporary Art Center, Moskau (RUS)
Luft, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
Frozen Time, Galerie Gebauer und Günther, Berlin
- 1995 Förderkoje der Galerie Gebauer und Günther, Berlin, Art Cologne, Köln
OCCHIO Konzepte der Zeichnung, Galleria Marco Noire, Turin (I)
Urbane Legenden Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden*
- 1993 Airport, International Airport Helsinki (FIN)
- 1992 Blue Velvet, Galerie Gebauer und Günther, Berlin
interVIEW, Muzeum Artystow (ArtistÕs Museum), Lodz (PL)
- 1991 Interferenzen, Kunst aus West-Berlin, Riga; Ethnographisches und Anthropologisches Museum, Sankt Petersburg (RUS)*
- 1990 1,2,3, Wewerka & Weiss Galerie, Berlin
Jetzt Berlin, Malmö Konstmuseet, Malmö (S)
Ceterum Censeo, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
- 1989 Neue Skulptur Berlin, Galerie Cintric, Antwerpen (B)*
Royal Academy School, London (GB)
Jürgen Ponto Stiftung, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt*
[Gunda Förster] [Hans Hemmert] [Sabine Hornig] [York der Knöfel] [Michel Majerus]
[Antje Majewski] [Olaf Nicolai] [Manfred Pernice] [Daniel Richter]
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