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The Art World in Focus
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Esther Kläs

ESTHER KLÄS

HORIZONTE Xavier Hufkens 2 February–10 March 2018 Rivoli
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Press Release

Xavier Hufkens is pleased to announce the second exhibition by Esther Klas titled HORIZONTE. The exhibition’s focus is the horizontal and all spaces surrounding it. A new publication accompanies the exhibition, including an essay by Dutch curator and writer Mark Kremer.

Some observations from the essay by Mark Kremer:

“Esther Kläs belongs to a generation of artists who, compelled by conditions that shape today’s world and how we engage with its complex issues, have taken up the old philosophical question of how matter affects us and how we may affect matter. The backdrop to her practice is a reality in which our natural world is in a state of precariousness; her sculptures and drawings evoke sensations of vulnerability and costliness.”

“Kläs’ oeuvre is primarily a body of work with a direct physical impact, yet in this same oeuvre lives a philosophical impetus. Her art is driven by an urge to explore. The sculptures, made from pigmented aqua resin, come to a space as if it were an unknown landscape in need of discovery. The pieces sit, lean,hang or loiter and they convey their energy to a place. As to her large drawings there is distance, their line configurations could be perceived as meditations on equilibrium, sitting somewhere in between a sketch and a score.”

“The subject of Kläs’ work could be defined as orientation. Her art dwells on mankind and our relationship with the surroundings and it evokes experiences of nature. A sculpture by Esther Kläs does not end at its material limits, it rather suggests the sensation of being doused in a larger energetic field. Every work starts at zero and is realized by following a pattern that does the work. The “minimal forms” which speak up in her work, seem to be inspired by a much larger intuition about the world. Perhaps we could call it “anima”, the notion that spirit permeates all things in our reality. In my opinion, Esther Kläs’ art thus attempts to make a new connection between minimalism and animism.”

Esther Kläs (b. 1981, Mainz, Germany) lives and works in Barcelona. Recent exhibitions include ola/wave, Proyecto AMIL, Lima, Peru, 2017—2018; Our Reality, Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, Italy, 2015—2016; Whatness, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, 2015; Girare Con Te, Marino Marini Museum, Florence, Italy, 2014, and Better Energy, MoMA PS1, NY, USA, 2012.

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About the Artist

German-born Esther Kläs has developed a distinctive visual language that harks back to the great sculptural traditions of the twentieth century – including post-war abstraction and minimalism – while simultaneously challenging contemporary sculptural norms. Using malleable materials that can be worked by hand – cement, clay, plaster, Styrofoam and resin – Kläs is a process-based sculptor who maintains an intimate physical relationship with her work. Interested in the dynamics of group sculptures, Kläs often creates human-scale ensembles that seem governed by their own internal and external logic. Her practice frequently addresses stasis and movement, with her sculptures eliciting specific gestures and motions from viewers. Differing relations of scale, asymmetry, and the contrast between light and dark colours, also play a central role in her work.

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About the Gallery
Xavier Hufkens is one of Europe’s leading galleries for contemporary art. Located in Brussels, the gallery maintains a diverse exhibition programme with solo exhibitions of the gallery artists as well as group exhibitions and special projects. The gallery deals in a distinctive combination of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation-based work.

The origins of the gallery date back to 1987, when Xavier Hufkens opened a gallery space in an un-refurbished warehouse in the neighbourhood of the South Station (Midi) in Brussels. During the early years, the focus of the gallery was upon mid-career and emerging artists and the gallery is known for having introduced some of the most influential contemporary artists to Brussels at a time when they were still relatively unknown. British sculptor Antony Gormley, who is still affiliated with the gallery, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Rosemarie Trockel all showed in Belgium for the first time with Xavier Hufkens (Gormley in 1987; Gonzalez-Torres in 1991 and Trockel in 1993).

In 1992, the gallery moved to a 19th-century townhouse at 6 rue Saint-Georges, close to the Avenue Louise. Completely renovated by Belgian architects Paul Robbrecht, Hilde Daem and Marie-José Van Hee, the house quickly gained a reputation for being not just one of the most beautiful contemporary art spaces in the Belgian capital, but also one of the most interesting. The expanded exhibition programme coincided with the additional representation of a number of established artists from Belgium and abroad, including Richard Artschwager, Thierry De Cordier and Jan Vercruysse. In 1997, Hufkens expanded the gallery further by annexing the adjacent building and a number of new artists joined the gallery, including Louise Bourgeois, Roni Horn and Thomas Houseago.

A second space in the same street, at 107 rue Saint-Georges, opened in spring 2013. Located in the Galerie Rivoli, a mixed-use commercial development from the 1970s, the new gallery space was designed by Swiss architect Harry Gugger, who was previously in partnership with Herzog and De Meuron. Slegten & Toegemann, Brussels, managed the project.

An eclectic but very clear vision underpins all of the gallery’s activities: ‘The definition of the gallery was established from the start. The common thread, then and now, is quality over and above everything else, which I find more intellectually challenging than a forced definition. From the early days I juxtaposed established artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto with someone like Felix Gonzalez-Torres when he was totally unknown. Today I still mix my work: I have no problem showing Malcolm Morley … alongside Robert Ryman, or Willem de Kooning.’ [Xavier Hufkens in The Art Newspaper, Issue 220, January 2011, published online: 20 January 2011]

Xavier Hufkens represents some thirty artists from different generations. He was part of the six-member selection committee for Art Basel during seven years and also participates in up to five international Arts Fairs annually. The gallery has partnerships with the estates of Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mapplethorpe and Alice Neel.
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Address
107 rue St-Georges
St-Jorisstraat
Brussels
Belgium
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 6pm
(1)
Brussels 107 rue St-Georges
Xavier Hufkens contemporary art gallery in Rivoli Brussels Belgium
Xavier Hufkens
107 rue St-Georges, St-Jorisstraat, Brussels, Belgium
+32 263 967 30
http://www.xavierhufkens.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 6pm
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