Entitled 'Chimera', Janaina Tschäpe's first exhibition in Ireland is structured around the genetics of this fabled beast from ancient myth. The exhibition focuses on Tschäpe's recent paintings that embody a sense of the extraordinary through bright and colourful botanical notations. Displayed and intertwined amongst these paintings are her film and photographic works. In this exhibition Tschäpe creates an environment of dream and fantasy, where the everyday world metamorphoses into a mythical place, populated by fabricated creatures and florescent vegetation.
The four screen video installation, Blood Sea, 2004, is a mesmerizing example of Tschäpe's fantasy worlds. Its narrative plays with the evolutionary biology of sirens and fishtails from fables such as the water sprites of Irish lore to Iemanja, spirit of the seas, lakes and fertility, from the Candomblé religion in Brazil. In this work Tschäpe plays creator to magnificent and fantastical creatures and environments. The fertile worlds found in Blood Sea and the photographic series Botanica's, 2004-05, are juxtaposed in this exhibition with the simplicity of an earlier series that spans over four years, 100 Little Deaths, 1997 - 2001, explores the dangers in art and the horror for an artist in coming up empty. The exhibition is a unique opportunity to discover Tschäpe's contemplative and melancholic, yet surreal, practice.
Janaina Tschäpe was born in Munich, Germany, in 1973, but spent a great deal of her childhood in São Paulo, Brazil, her mother's hometown. In 1992 she moved to Hamburg and attended the Hochschule für Bildende Küste where she received her degree in fine art. Tschäpe has exhibited extensively in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her most recent solo shows include Galerie Xippas, Athens, 2007; Sikkema, Jenkins & Co., New York, 2007; Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, 2006; Contemporary Museum of Art, St Louis, 2006, and Paço das Artes, São Paulo, 2006. She currently lives and works in New York.
A fully-illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with texts by Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA; Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, curator Angela Kingston and writer/curator Germano Celant. A discussion between the artist and curator is also included.
Janaina Tschäpe: Chimera
Until 28 September
The Irish Museum of Modern Art
Dublin
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