ex oriente lux

Under the title ex oriente lux, seven artists from Berlin, Dresden, and Hamburg present various concepts of an abstract understanding of imagery. In deliberate contrast to the current dominance of "new figurative painting," this exhibition showcases young artistic positions that, while not focusing on the figure, engage with objects in meaningful ways. The central theme revolves around the exploration of colors, shapes, traces, ornaments, materiality, or the painting process itself. The once accepted and fiercely debated separation between figurative and abstract art no longer holds significance for this younger generation of artists. Instead, it becomes clear that the concept of abstraction can only be understood in a historical context today. Every representation of figures or space has always reflected a very subjective view of the world by the artist, which has invariably been – whether consciously or unconsciously – a selective, simplifying, and in the literal sense: abstracting perspective.

“Ex oriente lux,” a Latin phrase meaning “from the east comes the light,” alludes to the prohibition of images in Islamic art and the resulting significance of abstraction, particularly the ornament as an abstract design element in visual art.

The catalog features contributions from several younger authors that explain the artistic positions, creating a multifaceted picture.

Participating artists include: Suse Bauer (Hamburg), Patrick Gutschmidt (Berlin), Henning Hennenkemper (Berlin), Alexander Klenz (Berlin), Stefan Lenke (Dresden), Rebecca Michaelis (Berlin), Lawrence Power (Hamburg).