TRIO DES WAHNSINNS

Curated by Isabella Greenberg and Gesa Zipp

In the joint exhibition Trio of Madness, paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Anna Bogouchevskaia (*1966, Moscow), Gudny Gudmundsdottir (*1970, Reykjavik) and Jonathan Meese (*1970, Tokyo) enter into an experimental trialogue, posing questions about the relationship between identity, freedom and the transformative potential of artistic practice. The tripartite division serves both as a conceptual starting point and as a structuring motif. As a ‘magical’ number and a constant deeply rooted in culture and mythology, the number three refers both to the religious Trinity and to temporal orders of past, present and future. In the tradition of fairy tales and legends, the tripartite structure marks trials and turning points, whilst since the invention of psychoanalysis the subject itself has also been conceived in terms of a tripartite division. In Trio of Madness, the number three functions as a subtle reference and atmospheric framework that places boundary-crossing, difference and mutual complementarity in an open relationship. Art is thematised as a place of freedom and examined for its capacity to multiply, dissolve and reform identities. Bogouchevskaia, Gudmundsdottir and Meese each work with their own visual languages and fields of interest, ranging from body-related, psychologically charged settings to iconographic condensations. In the juxtaposition, interweaving and fusion of their works, shared sensibilities are revealed and a new energy is released, which the three describe as follows:

Gudny Gudmundsdottir: We are the symptoms of art’s multiplication of personality. It has as many symptoms as there are female artists, and we are just three of them.

Anna Bogouchevskaia: Three flow together, form a shape, fall apart, then melt, and so on, and so on.

Jonathan Meese: FOR MEESE, THE ‘TRIO OF MADNESS’ IS THE ‘THREE ??? OF ART’! WE, ANNA, GUDNY AND JONATHAN, SOLVE EVERY CASE OF ART! ART SOLVES ALL CASES! THE ‘TRIO OF MADNESS’ IS AN ART GANG! THE ‘TRIO OF MADNESS’ IS ARTISTIC CAMARADERY/FRIENDSHIP! THE ‘TRIO OF MADNESS’ IS A FAMILY BUSINESS! THE THREE STANDS FOR THREE WISHES! THREE IS THE NUMBER OF THE LIFE OF ART! THREE IS THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE! THREE IS “WHEN TWO QUARREL, THE THIRD REJOICES”! THREE STANDS FOR “THE THIRD MAN”! SCARAMANGA, THE ARCH-VILLAIN IN THE JAMES BOND FILM ‘THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN’, HAS THREE NIPPLES! THE ‘TRIO OF MADNESS’ IS ALSO A REFERENCE TO THE FILM ‘TRIO INFERNALE’! THREE NUTS FOR CINDERELLA, THE DEVIL WITH THE THREE GOLDEN HAIRS, BROTHER AND SISTER, WHO SET OUT TO LEARN TO FEAR, AND MANY OTHER FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS ARE ALSO SOURCES OF THE TITLE! THE “TRIO OF MADNESS” IS A TOTAL WORK OF ART! THE TOTAL WORK OF ART “TRIO OF MADNESS” IS MAD LOVE! ART IS LOVE, LOVE IS ART!

THE EXHIBITION “TRIO OF MADNESS” WILL EXPLORE LOVE, PLAY, STRUGGLE, LONGING, NUTRITION, EVOLUTION, NATURE AND THE FUTURE……..