Stefan Brüggemann

Beginning 29 June 2016, Hauser & Wirth will present an exhibition of new paintings by the Mexico City and London-based artist Stefan Brüggemann. Spanning – and sometimes combining – sculpture, video, painting, and drawing, Brüggemann’s work deploys text in conceptual installations rich with acerbic social critique and a post-pop aesthetic. This will be Brüggemann’s first exhibition with Hauser & Wirth, and will fill the gallery’s East 69th Street townhouse with site-specific extensions of two of his best known, ongoing series: Headlines and Last Line in the Movies and Timeless.

About the Exhibition

On the gallery’s ground floor, Brüggemann will install ‘Headlines and Last Line in the Movies’ (2016), a new work for his signature series Headlines and Last Line in the Movies, initiated in 2009. The installation will consist of the final lines of dialogue from such classic films as Citizen Kane (1941), spray painted directly onto the walls of the gallery and overlaid with headlines drawn from news stories published by major media outlets during the week in which the work is made. Brüggemann will complement ‘Headlines and Last Line in the Movies’ with a similar installation on the third floor, where texts will be painted onto marble panels – a first use of the material by the artist.

Brüggemann’s intention with the Headlines and Last Line series is to juxtapose reality and fiction in a way that throws myths into high relief: In the era of instantaneous global communication and citizen journalism, the products of the news media and the movie industry are parallels and fraternal twins that reflect our culture’s desires while manipulating and distorting our comprehension of society. On the gallery’s second floor, visitors will find ‘Timeless’ (2016), the latest addition to another ongoing conceptual series by Brüggemann. Time Paintings feature a grid of individual mirrors appliquéd with black and white vinyl letters, painted over with oil. Consisting of original text by the artist, ‘Timeless’ is Brüggemann’s anxious articulation of a contemporary society in which time has accelerated to the point at which it is no longer perceived as linear, and dissolves into abstraction.