Painting will need to do all sorts of crazy wonderful things

Sarah Szczesny has created her exhibition, "Painting will need to do all sorts of crazy wonderful things, you know, so that it doesn't restrict me" specifically for the artothek – Raum für junge Kunst in Cologne. In this exhibition, the artist examines the format of painting through various materials and a wide range of media, including classic panel paintings, as well as textile, video, and paper works. "… Silhouettes are exchanged / She’s the artist / She’s the art dealer / She’s her friend / The silhouette contains both of them / The artist and the art dealer / The silhouette has a double function / It contains both of them messy and conflictual / What is left when the silhouette is erased/ What is left / A smoking, elegant figure, reclining. A smoking, elegant figure, reclining / Smoke it, burn it, smoke it, burn it, Smoke it, burn it, smoke it, burn it, / Smoke it, burn it, smoke it, burn it, / A cloud of money burning / a cloud of money burning / Out of the cloud of money that is burning / Smoke it burn it / A silhouette is emerging / No, it is not a silhouette / No, it is a gesture ...." Both the artist and the silhouette refer to the Cologne-based artist Sarah Szczesny. The quotations above are from the opening performance of the exhibition "Painting will need to do all sorts of crazy wonderful things, you know, so that it doesn't restrict me". The monologue for "Image as Dead End. It's the Gesture, Stupid" was written by the Hamburg artist Philipp Joy Reinhardt. Reinhardt acted as the narrator, while Szczesny appeared as a phantom dressed in a painted cowboy outfit taken from her series "Smoke it, Burn it (Trickpictures) 1-5". A recording of the performance immediately became part of the exhibition. The title of Sarah Szczesny's exhibition, "Painting will have to do all sorts of crazy wonderful things, you know, so that it doesn't restrict me", refers to an animation sequence from her work "The dress will have to do all sorts of crazy wonderful things, you know, so that it doesn't restrict me" from 2023. For this piece, Szczesny re-edited and looped a scene from Douglas Keeve's documentary "Unzipped". In the scene, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi meets singer and actress Eartha Kitt to discuss an evening gown he has designed for her. In response, Kitt breaks into a spontaneous dance that expresses her desire for freedom. Szczesny amplifies these demands in her video work, one of seven video works in the exhibition. A selection of painted frames on paper from this series is also included in the show. In the artothek, Sarah Szczesny presents "Smoke it, Burn it (Trickpictures) 1-5", a series of five large-format paintings with similar pictorial motifs, each with subtle modifications and changes. These new works reference her 2023 animation "Smoke it, Burn it (Sabine)", which incorporates reworked individual photographs. The animation shows a smoking figure dressed in a costume painted by Szczesny. In "Smoke it, Burn it (Trickpictures) 1-5", golden coins reminiscent of Taler and Scrooge McDuck fall from clouds of varying density. Partially hidden by the smoke, a ladder appears, suggesting a possible escape route. Graphic elements within the paintings recall the cartoon world of Walt Disney. When hung side by side, the paintings combine to create a stage-like panoramic landscape. Ladders, clouds and fragments of brick walls also appear in the oversized fabric works on display in the artothek. These drawings were created using a colour subtraction technique on pre-dyed silk, cotton or linen fabrics. The semi-transparent pieces both divide and redefine the exhibition space, limiting perspectives and opening up new dimensions of perception. Sarah Szczesny (*1979) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and graduated in 2009 as a master student of Professor Rosemarie Trockel. In recent years she has received various grants, including the Atelier Galata residency in Istanbul (2024), the Villa Aurora fellowship from the KunstSalon in Los Angeles (2021), and the Villa Kamogawa fellowship from the Goethe Institute in Kyoto (2017). She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in national and international exhibition spaces, galleries and museums. She lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Philipp Joy Reinhardt (*1991) uses painting and performance in his artistic practice to create situations that focus on the perception of the audience and its social potential. His work has been shown in institutions such as Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Kunstverein Hamburg, Golden Pudel Club Hamburg, Haus am Waldsee Berlin, Mauer Köln, KM Galerie Berlin.