Helmut Middendorf

Opening reception: Friday, November 25, 8-10 p.m.

Eleni Koroneou Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition “Logos, Stripes and Splashes” with new paintings by Helmut Middendorf. Middendorf continues his exploration of abstract art and shows again his great versatility in creating his works, by presenting two different series of large-scale paintings.

In the first series, referred by the artist as the "Black puddle paintings", the paintings are dominated by big abstract splashes or stains of black or dark blue-grey colour. In some of the paintings an allover structure of white stripes covers very colourful abstract compositions. The striped surface is then overpainted or defaced by the artist with big splashes or puddles of paint. In most of the new paintings, two different big stains correspond with each other. For example in the painting "Black puddles-yellow" a collaged composition in bright yellows, pink and white, is defaced by two horizontal puddles of dark Payne’s grey colour. All these paintings show a hard and sharp graphic contrast between the fore- and background.

The paintings in the second series of works, the so-called "Logo paintings", show free compositions in vivid and radiant colours along with different logos that Middendorf has collected or created himself. These compositions sometimes combine collaged parts from the artist’s big collection of photo source material or painted copies of cartoons or fragments of drawings. The logos give the paintings a special direction of meaning. This can be ironic, absurd or irritating. In everyday life people are permanently confronted with thousands of logos. They are on smartphones and computer screens, there is an endless number of Apps and each product has a logo. A logo always says: I'm a product, I'm a brand.

Helmut Middendorf was born in 1953 in Dinklage, Germany. He lives and works in Berlin and Athens. Since his early years in the 80s, he was part of the famous group “Neue Wilde” in Berlin. His work has been shown internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including participations in “Neue Wilde”, Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands (2016), Städel Museum, Frankfurt (2015); “Geniale Dilletanten”, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (2016), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2015); “Kunst in Berlin 1945 bis Heute”, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2013); “Chambres d’ Amis - Collectiepresentatie”, S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium (2012); “Gegenwartskunst”, Staedel Museum, Frankfurt (2012); “Schlachtpunkt Malerei der 80er Jahre”, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Germany (2012); “The Last Grand Tour”, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2011); “Neue Wilde”, ARKEN - Museum, Denmark (2010); “40 Jahre Gegenwart” Deutsche Bank - Collection, Luxembourg (2010); “Neoexpressionistic paintings from Berlin: Gift of Susan and Martin Sanders, New York”, Museum of Modern Art Tel Aviv, Israel (2010).

Middendorf’s works are included in over 30 Museum Collections worldwide, as Guggenheim Museum, New York; Aros Museum, Aarhus Denmark; Musée Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt; SMAK, Museum voor Hedendagse Kunst, Gent, Belgium and in private collections.