Solo

Solo is a two-part exhibition in the form of a "Carte Blanche" by artist Ramon Hungerbühler (1989, *Tablas Romblon, Philippines, lives and works in Zurich). New series of works are displayed in the two exhibition spaces Kunstmuseum Luzern and marytwo. Laura Breitschmid for Kunstmuseum Luzern: A colourful snail with a cigarette in its mouth and a mischievous smile on its face creeps across the canvas gazing eagerly at an outsize lipstick by Chanel. What is this all about? A critique of consumerism or a playful painting in which the strangest objects meet? In his work, Ramon Hungerbühler uses both Pop culture and the canon of western art history: memes and streetwear make an appearance, as does abstract American painting. He thus reflects as much on the history of painting as on the digital pictorial world of the internet. Colourful and smoothly applied paint plus brand names point to consumer culture and are inspired by Pop Art and comics. "IYKYK" with its tall upright formats recalls smartphone screens. The title stands for «If you know you know». The repetition and the reference to specific knowledge in the title are strategies that also crop up in phenomena such as memes. And as in digital communication and the pictorial world with its ever new trends, the conceptual pairs «originality and imitation» and «high and low» are important for Ramon Hungerbühler The series "Terra" consists of sculptures, each of which is made out of 10 kilos of therapy clay. All of the artist’s gestures and movements are inscribed in it, and the acrylic paint emphasises the traces of the working process. In the series Schnecke cool the animal fills the whole canvas and divides the background into several colour fields. Snails live almost everywhere – in the deep sea and on the smallest islands. Only a few lines are required to draw them and their depiction is immediately decipherable. Ramon Hungerbühler designed a hoody both as an edition. Flames darting up the arms are reminiscent of 90s streetwear aesthetics. The hoody has gone from being a functional item of clothing to being a cool garment scene. The exhibition "Solo" continues in the off-space marytwo. Elvira Bättig and Jack Pryce for marytwo: A year ago we went to the Kunstmuseum Luzern in celebration of Ramon’s opening at zentral!. That same month we found the right space to open marytwo and from then on started to think of "Solo" as an exhibition in dialogue with the Kunstmuseum Luzern. Bringing "Solo" to two such different venues goes beyond the traditional framework of a cabinet exhibition. Connecting people and involving them in his own work is one of Ramon’s most beautiful qualities, so this idea only felt natural. In this sense, the "envelopes HD" series fits like a glove. "Happy Birthday, My Condolences, I Love You, Congratulations and Thinking Of You" are all phrases from greeting cards and remind us of letters and thus again of communication and exchange. There are paintings in which the representation of the object is in the foreground, or paintings that detach themselves from the object and in which painting takes on a life of its own (freely quoted from Isabelle Graw). The "envelopes HD" are the latter, calm colour fields, but by means of the the title Ramon brings us back to the envelope, to the personal letter, to the object. During the last days of installation, Ramon finished painting the edges and retouching small details here at marytwo. His colour palette is opaque and he paints without water. These are the two reasons why his paintings look so smooth. But we have also noticed that Ramon does not mask off the lines, and so there are more or less wobbly traces running through his paintings. Whether around the edges or in the colour fields themselves, his work remains unmistakably handmade. The path getting here was a rollercoaster until the subject of the snail brought it back full circle. A nice addition to Ramon’s collection of simple motifs such as the cheese, a magic hat, fruit flies and wooden boards. Snails are hermaphrodites with both female and male sex organs. The size of their shells reflects their age and they lack a backbone. New to Ramon’s paintings are the earth tones he uses. In addition, a quote from one of our art heroes, Derek Jarman: "The names of brown dyes are sweet and edible. You can buy a coat in caramel, toffee, almond, coffee, chocolate or curry. Brown is sweetness and nourishment. There was once a colour called toast." Derek Jarman (Chroma, 1994, p.61) A thank you to Laura Breitschmid for the collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Luzern and to Nils Amadeus Lange for connecting the two venues with his performance songs for snails together with Dominique Dillon de Byington and Mario Petrucci Espinoza.