Galerie b2

After receiving a link of Christian Bär’s new paintings, I began scrolling to understand what was in front of me. It certainly felt natural seeing them through the screen and it never even dawned on me that anything could be different in real life. It appeared like he was convincing me that every-thing is, everything felt and shouted exactly how he portrayed it.

In his new Exhibition ‘Angst und Familie’, one can be found driving through a gamified memory lane, where all of the elements are condensed to their purest, most concrete form – an outline of a unicorn, a violet whimsical flower or an electric peach fracture that seemed to resemble a glimpse of Bär’s paint tab from a time when The Trip, The beach, The Escape, The Dispute or The Fear happened. All of these titles are translated into a new visual vocabulary, a palette once influenced by the daily life of a German boy from the 2000s – it’s like Disney Channel meets MTV Viva, but now entirely surrounded by the contemporary online.

The copy/paste motifs, overlays and strokes overlap on the canvas, threads of burgundy red pump through royal blue flowers while vector graphics protrude between rebellious turquoise lines, describing an intimate yet universal experience.

The showcased pieces feature minimalist backgrounds that successfully support Bär’s continuous recompositioning, initiated on his iPad and then transferred to canvas. Within these backgrounds, one can discern the artist’s childhood friends, confessions, and references, reflecting his admiration for contrasts and juxtapositions. Fear and Family is about get-ting older, resisting to fully settle down but enjoying the order that was carefully created.

Tamara Knežević, 2024

CV

*1989 Stuttgart

2010 – 2015
Studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig, class of Ingo Meller

2015
Diploma with distinction  at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig

Solo exhibitions

2022
Nowadays, Galerie Burster, Karlsruhe
Endlich keine Freunde Mehr, Galerie b2_, Leipzig

2020
wwww.wwwwwww, sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf

2019
5 Paintings in Athen, CK_Offspace, Athen

2016
I love you babe, Bistro 21, Leipzig

Group exhibitions

2023
anything left to Do, Galerie b2_

2022
Words, mom art space, Hamburg
la suée, Galerie b2_, Leipzig
DON’T KNOW WHY — 15 Jahre Kunstraum Ortloff, Ortloff, Leipzig
HERBERGE, Spriten Kunsthall, Skien, Norwegen
NEUZUGÄNGE zeitgenössiger Kunst im Kunstfonds 2020/21, Landesvertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund, Berlin
lazyload, Flamingo Artspace Reutlingen

2021
Skulpturen Park Neutstadt, Leipzig
Parallel Vienna, Galerie Tassilo Usner, Vienna
Nothing’s gonna change my world?, gr_und project space, Berlin
Drei, Halle 14 UG, Leipzig
WIN/WIN – Die Ankäufe der Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen 2021, Halle 14, Leipzig
Chow Chow, Galerien der Spinnerei in der Werkschauhalle Leipzig, Leipzig

2020
Canny Family, Vunu Gallery, Slovakia
THE DAYS ARE JUST PACKED, THE POOL, Istanbul

2019
at the car dealer, Leipzig
NEED NEW FLAT, mit Norbert Reissig, Atelier Scheune Rixdorf, Berlin
Codec Romantic, NEW NOW, Frankfurt
Friendly Waves, tête, Berlin
I ain’t though, Ortloff, Leipzig

2018
Facing Repetition, AO Kunsthalle, Leipzig
Tone Bone Kone, Berlin
That´s all right mama, XXY, Berlin
Friendly Symbols, mit Manuel Schneidewind, Storage Capacite
American Hanging, Kommunalka, Leipzig
Green Exile, mit Manuel Schneidewind, Bistro 21, Leipzig

2017
New Benefits of Planting a Rose Garden, mit Lydia Wahrig, BB–Labor, Leipzig
Black Sugar, Kunstmuseum Spendhaus, Reutlingen
Jasmin, mit Manuel Schneidewind, KASKL Gallery, Berlin
SUPERVISION, Lange Straße 31, Frankfurt
New Fantasies, mit Manuel Schneidewind, Bistro 21, Leipzig

2016
Ich dachte, Sie wären nur ein armer Schlucker, Kommunalka, Leipzig
Un Salon Sous Le Pont #1, U2 Gleisdreieck, Berlin
Belgrade Encounters, Jan Arnold Gallery, Vienna
Belgrade Encounters, Faculty Of Fine Arts, Belgrade

2015
back on, top soon, Lindenow Festival, Energiekombinat, Leipzig
8th International Printmaking Workshop, Faculty Of Fine Arts, Belgrade

2014
&, Werkschauhalle, Leipzig

2013
LEIPZIG & BREMEN, Galerie der HfK, Bremen
Luci Luci, Internationaler Projektraum für Druckgrafik, Leipzig
Prints made in Leipzig, Budapest

Stipends

2021
Ankauf von der Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen

2020
Neustart, BBK Bundesverband

2017
Kulturförderung der Stadt Leipzig

Publications

2021
Skulpturen Park Neustadt
nothing’s gonna change my world?

2020
Tagebuch, with Klasse3h

2019
Fünf Painings in Athen
#Shapes #Formen

2017
Black Sugar