Georg Herold

weekend ü

January 30 - March 21, 2009

537 W 22nd Street

Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Cologne-based artist Georg Herold's solo exhibition weekend ü. This marks the artist's second solo exhibition at the gallery.

The work of Georg Herold has been of international importance for nearly three decades. His past works are best known as large-scale installations made out of seemingly simple materials from daily life such as bricks or bottles. For this exhibition, Herold dominates the gallery space with a range of larger-than-life angular figures made of wood. Each construction assembled of multiple jagged layers of lath screwed together ultimately forms human bodies. Although each sculpture remains true to a post-minimal esthetic, the gestures and actions of the figures allude to some epic struggle: in protest, agony, observation, or seduction with an invisible opponent. Like the past works, the sculptures reach a state that is ambiguous and allows multiple interpretations to be read.

Ever since the late Seventies Georg Herold has played with material and concepts. His interest is constantly rekindled by the changing relationships between society and the art business often integrating a concern for the issues of the day through his sardonic wit. Bricks, mattresses, underwear, vodka bottles, or caviar – regardless of whether the material comes from a lumber shop or specialty store: Georg Herold reframes categorizations and prominent uses of contemporary art with mischievous defiance.

Georg Herold was born in Iena, East Germany in 1947. In the middle and late 70s he studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich and at the Academy of Fine Art in Hamburg. His most recent solo exhibitions include Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2007) and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent (2007).

This will be Georg Herold's second solo exhibition at Friedrich Petzel Gallery. The exhibition will open on January 30, with an opening reception from 6-8 p.m., and will be on view through March 21, 2009. Friedrich Petzel Gallery is located at 537 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011. For more information, please contact the gallery at 212.680.9467 or info@petzel.com.