Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam

Wilfried Lentz Gallery is very pleased to present new work by nine conceptual artists in our next exhibition, Not Created By A Human Hand. The exhibition will feature works by: Giorgio Andreotta Calò (IT, 1979), James Beckett (ZW, 1977), Rossella Biscotti (IT, 1978), Susan Hiller (USA, 1940), Joachim Koester (DK, 1962), Jonathan Monk (GB, 1969), Dan Rees (GB, 1982), Mark Soo (Singapore, 1977) and Philippe van Wolputte (BE, 1982). A print of the first photograph of the Shroud of Turin (1898), by Secondo Pia (1855 Piemonte – 1941), will also be on display.

Not Created By A Human Hand will open on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24th, from 5 pm.
The launch of the gallery publication, #2 On the Art of Making Without Hands, with a text by Alena A. Alexandrova, will coincide with the opening and be immediately followed by bites and drinks at the gallery. Please join us for the opening.

The publication with a signed edition (500) by Joachim Koester and James Beckett can be ordered for 10 euro at Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam, Castillos/Corrales Paris, Pro qm Berlin, Boekie Woekie Amsterdam. See James Beckett’s artist page for more details.

The gallery is regularly open Thursday – Saturday from 1-6 pm, but will be closed during Christmas and New Years day. For further information and visuals, please contact the gallery: office@wilfriedlentz.com or +31 (0)10 – 4126459.

Not Created By A Human Hand was conceived as an invitation to several artists to create a new work that responds in some way, to either the shroud of Turin or the first photograph of it, by Secondo Pia.
The photograph of the shroud (1898) opened up the possibility of turning the imprint of the body of Christ from a negative into a positive; to finally see the face, and make sense of the stains of the linen.

We could see the Holy Shroud as the greatest piece of appropriation art, a humble object, found by someone with an agenda. What about an exhibition about the condition of such an artifact, an object that excludes any artistic operation? Or more precisely, that masks it, hides it. How can such an artifact be translated into images today? Because of its condition – being a contact-image, a found image, and an instantaneous occurrence, it provides an interpretative frame for many contemporary art practices (excerpt from text by Alena Alexandrova*).

In this invitation, a selection was made of artists who possess different types of special interests that connect to the subject. For example Giorgio Andreotta Calò witnessed a copy of another relic, the Limpsias, firsthand, which made such a haunting impression that it forced him to performative actions. James Beckett’s work tends to accelerate science and technology to a point where it becomes obscure or absurd. Rossella Biscotti and Susan Hiller are both interested in historical documents that still retain some meaning today. Joachim Koester has a strong interest in the occult. Dan Rees and Jonathan Monk’s practices both question aspects of authorship and the ‘truth’ of an image while Mark Soo is interested in the hidden messages and meanings behind the images and objects of our world. Several of them work with found materials and the ready-made while, using strategies of mediation, both Andreotta Calò and Van Wolputte’s works reflect on repetitor and the distribution of an image. Soo, Ree and Koesters’ works, on the other hand, investigate the opacity of an image and the mechanics of its presentation.

The exhibition is composed of artists with a broad range of methodologies and experience. While the majority of the artists are young and at the beginning of careers a few are already well-established and have gained recognition from their participation in large international exhibitions.

Click here to download the pdf of the booklet with a text by Alena Alexandrova.