13 December 2013–16 March 2014
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga
Calle Alemania
s/n 29001 Málaga
Spain
T +00 34 952 12 00 55
F +00 34 952 21 01 77
cacmalaga [at] cacmalaga.org
cacmalaga.org
www.timvanlaeregallery.com
The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga is presenting the first solo exhibition in Spain and in a museum context of the work of Kati Heck. KOPF=KOPFNUSS, curated by Fernando Francés, includes 42 works: small- and large-format paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography and video. Heck moves between different disciplines and one of her defining traits is her mastery of painting, which recalls that of the great Old Masters, combined with the use of contemporary techniques. Her particular vision of the human body, with some elements deliberately distorted, and her practice of leaving some of her canvases unfinished are other distinguishing features that define her work. This exhibition is among those organised to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the CAC Málaga (2003–2013).
For Fernando Francés, Director of the CAC Málaga: “A striking feature of Heck’s work is the characters’ ability to mutate: they seem happy but suddenly they become melancholy, sad, angry, with amused expressions, creating a mixture of sensations but drawn with a mastery and technique inherited from the German Expressionist school. Heck plays with interpretative potential of her figures, conveying this in her painting and giving a dramatic or an ironic sense to everything she does. Suddenly, she distorts a foot or the fingers of one of her figures in a way of attracting the viewer’s attention, who sees a real scene as if it were a dream. We never know where the limits are. This is a dangerous, provocative game, which is easy to fall into but hard to get out of. This capacity to surprise—although the surprise sometimes brings out much darker thoughts—is what initially captures the attention of those looking at her work.”
“She seems to physically enter all her subjects, always striving for perfection, even when she liberates herself from observation and starts to deconstruct, or gives painting a free hand. This tendency to perfection could be explained by her mastery of all this as a painter, convincingly assuring the harmony of the whole, even if the viewer first feels disrupted and disturbed. She never repeats herself, each work is a narrative image of empathizing with the subject and experimenting with paint in its material potentialities and possibilities,” states Jan Hoet.
Kati Heck was born 1979 in Dusseldorf, Germany; she lives and works in Antwerp. She has exhibited globally with museums and leading art galleries including among others solo shows at Tim Van Laere Gallery (2014 and 2011); Mary Boone Gallery, New York; Museum Het Domein Sittard, Netherlands; group shows at Saatchi Gallery, London; Bozar, Brussels; and National Art Museum of China, Bejing.
