Artist Carpets Petra Singh

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Petra Singh – Artist Carpets

In our new film, Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen presented the artists' carpets by Petra Singh. These are mostly traditionally Nepalese hand-knotted carpets, which are created in collaboration with world-famous artists and take up motifs from their work. Petra Singh has been creating these rugs since 1985 and works with a large number of renowned artists worldwide.

For the new exhibition, which can now be seen in the Cadoro – Center for Art and Science in Mainz (opening ceremony on February 26th, 2022), Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen brought a fine selection of artists' carpets to Mainz. The world ranking of the artists presented can be seen from one thing they have in common: they have all already presented their works to the art public at the Venice Art Biennale – the mother of all biennials.

Eduardo Chillida kicks things off. The draftsman and sculptor from San Sebastian in the Basque Country received the sculpture prize at the 1958 Biennale and also presented an impressive show at the 1990 Biennale in Ca' Pesaro. His expansive installations in public space can also be admired in many places in Germany. His Cage of Freedom in front of the European Law Academy in Trier and his last large sculpture, Buscando la Luz in Munich, deserve special mention.

The American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth designed the Hungarian pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale in 1993, remembering his Hungarian roots. Using fragments of writing and newspaper articles in English and Hungarian, he created a fascinating spatial experience inside the pavilion. In addition, he has gone down in art history as the founder of conceptual art. With his epoch-making work One and three chairs, which consists of a chair, a photo of a chair and the definition of 'chair', he created a major work of conceptual art.

The Portuguese painter and multimedia artist Julião Sarmento, who worked conceptually between 1974 and 1980, is known for his paintings with impasto paint application. The paint, applied in layers, is left out or removed again in selected places, whereby preliminary drawings with pencil or charcoal reappear and thus create a collage-like picture impression. His works appeal to the human ability to think in images. Using reduced elements, he evokes thoughts and emotions and thus develops his own visual language. He is particularly known for the motif of a headless woman in a black dress, which was implemented in paintings and sculptures. His Biennale contribution in the Portuguese Pavilion in 1997 also shows this motif, which refers to Giacomo Casanova.

The Cologne artist Rosemarie Trockel has created a very diverse oeuvre. Her works include pictures and drawings, plastics, sculptures, objects as well as video works and installations. On trips to the USA she met Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman and formulated her artistic concept, which focuses on being a woman. In 1999 she was the first woman to design the German pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale with two video installations on the subject of sleep.

The British painter, sculptor and object artist Liam Gillick has a broad repertoire of artistic forms of expression in his oeuvre. His expansive architectures based on minimalist concepts are particularly well known. For this he uses, among other things, shelf constructions and room dividers, as at the Venice Art Biennale in 2009. Here he designed a room in the German pavilion using kitchen elements with the title How are you going to behave? – A kitchen cat speaks, which also included a talking cat.

In 2013, Lore Bert organized a highly acclaimed so-called Evento Collaterale for the Venice Art Biennale. The exhibition entitled Art & Knowledge - The Spirit of the Place in the 5 Platonic Solids, which was shown in the magnificent state hall of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Museo Correr), included numerous large-format pictorial objects – for which Lore Bert is particularly well known – as well as an impressive installation with five platonic solids in a sea of white paper. More than 105,000 visitors marveled at the magnificent exhibition, which was recognized as one of the top 10 cultural events of the summer.

We look forward to your visit to our new exhibition in the Cadoro – Center for Art and Science in Mainz-Hechtsheim.

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