Galerie Hilger contemporary presents I AM LONELYNESS, an exhibition of recent drawing and video work by South African artist Cameron Platter. Cameron Platter’s series of black and white drawings; The Good Shepard Presents Dr. Bombaka, The Battle of Rorkes Drift at Club Dirty Den (About 2009), and Black Up that White Ass II, are production stills/ working sketches/ and thought pads for his manic video titled Black Up that White Ass II. “Black Up That White Ass II”, a 26 minute long, animated video work is a Good vs. Evil story of contemporary life in South Africa weaved through erotic pornography, historic battle stories, biblical parables, and psychedelic dream sequences. Influenced by the South African tradition of storytelling in the medium of woodcuts, Slasher gore, Z- grade gangster films, local politics, witchdoctors, kids cartoons, MTV, penis extension machines, arcadia, strip clubs, tabloid horror stories, and the lure of casinos, this film speaks to us about the universal themes of sex, love, violence, beauty, and things falling apart. With the meticulous appropriation of John Muafangejo, Big Wet Asses III, the Battle of Rorkes Drift in KwaZulu-Natal, the parable of the Good Shepard, and the Coen brothers’ Big Lebowski, Platter creates an ultra primitive, anti-aesthetic take on what it means to be alive today in South Africa.

The Japanese virtuoso with the sewing machine Ai Kijima was born in Tokyo in 1970. She has lived and worked in New York since 2006. At an early age, Kijima’s grandmother taught her how to sew, crochet and knit, and she soondeveloped a life-long love for fabric. Kijima’s artwork is notable for her use of appropriation and traditional quilting techniques to create colourful, chaotic fabric collages from materials including bed sheets, vintage kimonos, T-shirts, picnic blankets, curtains, pillowcases and dishcloths. Many of Kijima’s works incorporate familiar pop culture iconography in ambiguous, often poetic, ways. Kijima is of the opinion that her quilts represent mechanisms which guarantee that pop culture is everywhere accessible in a globalized world like ours and provide the same or similar icons.

Galerie Hilger contemporary
Cameron Platter - I am Lonelyness
Ai Kijima
Vernissage: Dienstag, 12. Jänner 2010, 19.30 Uhr, die Ausstellung dauert bis 23. Februar 2010.
Opening: Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 7.30 p.m., the exhibition lasts until February 23rd, 2010.

Preview:
Kamen Stoyanov - k/haus, Wien
15.1.10 - 7.2.10
Rainer Wölzl - k/haus, Wien
12.3.10 - 5.4.10

International exhibitions:
Promise of Loss - New York Arario Gallery
14.01.10 - 12.02.10
Asgar/Gabriel - Mama Showroom, Amsterdam
01.2010

Galerie Hilger contemporary
Ai Kijima
Vernissage: Dienstag, 12.Jänner 2010, 19.30 Uhr, die Ausstellung dauert bis 23. Februar 2010. Opening: Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 7.30 p.m., the exhibition lasts until February 23rd, 2010.