G2 #19
S E L E C T E D  P O E M S
Martin Gross

 

September 30, 2022 – Januar 15, 2023
G2 Kunsthalle, Dittrichring 13, 04109 Leipzig

 

With SELECTED POEMS, the G2 Kunsthalle presents the first institutional solo exhibition by Martin Gross in Leipzig. The artist, who studied in London and Leipzig, reflects the ambivalent identity of the present, shaped by digitalization, in multimedia forms of expression in his works. In addition to numerous works on paper, Gross is showing a space-specific typographic installation, as well as an auditory work made for the G2 Kunsthalle.

Recurring motifs in Gross’s works, besides to pop cultural themes and art historical references, are the data and information structures of the Internet, as well as social media, blogs, and news portals, as predominant, participatory, and anonymized venues for sociopolitical events of the 21st century.

Gross uses contemporary digital visual vocabulary from memes, emojis, icons, or user interfaces and transfers them into the analog world.

The works on paper, which formally oscillate between painting, drawing and print, bundle information as a simultaneous preservation/synchronization of events on the pictorial surface.

The daily flow of information that impacts us and is exponentially increasing due to developments of digitalisation is woven into impenetrable textures and complex networks in Gross’s works through clever layering of written elements, shapes, silhouettes, and figurations.

Depending on the viewer’s own biography, individual elements are perceived more prominently than others. The works thus activate perceptual strategies that are intended by social media and applied onto the analog object in Gross’s work

Gross artfully contrasts the multi-layered, overloaded surfaces of his paper works with the wall-filling installation Immer is was. (There’s always something.). The concrete typographic lettering, which stretches across three walls of the first room of the exhibition, confronts the viewer with an inflationarily used phrase of collective linguistic usage, potentiates it, and thus skillfully rhythms the spaces of the G2 Kunsthalle. Gross reflects both the relation of the viewing subject to the spaces and its use and utilization of language.

The sound work, attached to the biggest wall of the second room, permeates the entire floor and addresses various sound pieces from functional funnel speakers down to the viewer. The hearable texts which occupy the rooms of the G2 arbitrarily and without context, repeatedly take up themes of our day-to-day present. Gross, for example, gives Daft Punk’s iconic TechnolgicLyrics an uncanny (somber) update, communicating like a present-day mantra, dictatorial commands dealing with anonymized hatred and the addiction to digital incentives on the Internet.

Floorplan

 

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    Exhibition views: Martin Groß – SELECTED POEMS

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Martin Groß - SELECTED POEMS, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 30. September 2022 - 15. Januar 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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