Usually, a gallery only shows the result: finished paintings, framed, hung and lit. How they come into being remains hidden. Work in Progress turns this around and makes the artistic process itself the exhibition.
The Studio in the Gallery
From 17 to 24 June, Arno Beck and Pascal Schwendener are moving their studio into the Pretty Portal gallery space. Some of the works for the subsequent exhibition are being created right here on site. During this time, visitors are warmly invited to look over the artists’ shoulders, gain insight into how the works develop and follow the artistic process. On four evenings, from 20 to 23 June, there will also be a nocturnal shadow theatre. The exhibition then opens on 24 June.
Two Students of the Academy
Both artists study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Pascal Schwendener under Peter Doig and Arno Beck under Eberhard Havekost. And both have already had solo exhibitions with us: Pascal Schwendener in March 2010 with Ich, Arno Beck in August 2010 with Vertical Ghetto.
Pascal Schwendener
Swiss-born Pascal Schwendener was accepted at the age of 17 as one of the youngest students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and today studies under Prof. Peter Doig. His large-format paintings soon attracted attention, with his background as a graffiti artist clearly recognisable in them. Intricate, futuristic-looking worlds of forms, biocomputers and fantastic visions of the future define his motifs.
His paintings exert an enormous fascination and immediately draw the viewer in. Enchanted, unsettlingly deserted cityscapes of fragile high-rises and endless tubes feel like fragments of a dream: believable constructs with perfect internal proportions that depict unbelievable scenes. The closer one gets to his paintings, the more abstract and multi-layered they become, with details emerging from the surface. Like layers of earth, rock and stone, Schwendener stacks layers of vision in which the world is condensed. Sparingly used, luminous blues and oranges breathe life into the paintings and guide the eye through his surreal universe.
Through his studies, the young artist is as familiar with classical painting as with graffiti and comic art, and he tries to incorporate every means and technique of painting into his works. Pascal Schwendener is rightly regarded as a shooting star among the academy’s students.
Arno Beck
Arno Beck has been studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf since 2006, under Markus Lüpertz, Reinhold Braun and Eberhard Havekost, among others. In his artistic practice, he constantly reinvents himself and experiments with new techniques and styles. Graphic elements, photography and print meet drawing and gestural structures. Spray paint, acrylic, oil, ink, collage and print combine on canvas, paper and wood. In doing so, he draws, among other things, on a visual vocabulary he has acquired through his artistic work in public space, in empty factory halls and on industrial wasteland. Arno Beck has been awarded the 10th Hogan Lovells Kunstförderpreis for his innovative works on urbanity and architecture.
“Work in Progress”
Arno Beck & Pascal Schwendener
Open studio in the gallery
17 – 24 June 2011
Nocturnal shadow theatre
20 – 23 June 2011, 7 pm – midnight
Opening
Friday, 24 June 2011, 7 – 11 pm
Exhibition
24 June – 16 July 2011
Pretty Portal
Brunnenstraße 12
40223 Düsseldorf
Note (2026): Pascal Schwendener now works under the name Pascal Sender. After graduating as a master student (Meisterschüler) of Peter Doig, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Arno Beck graduated as a master student of Eberhard Havekost and became internationally known above all for his typewritten drawings. Both artists are now established on the international art market.
