Astrid Klein
May 18–July 29, 2006
Munich

Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, Munich proudly present works of Astrid Klein. The exhibition, which covers works from the late 1970s and the 1980s, includes photographic, sculptural and installation work.

Photography has played a key role in Astrid Klein’s œuvre since the mid 1970s. Her approach to photography differs from the traditional documentary use of the medium: Astrid Klein uses photographic material taken from film, TV, advertising and journalistic texts, which she manipulates. She inverts colours, layers images, adds fragments of texts to the images or overexposures them.

Astrid Klein…The real pictures have disappeared and have left their original function by assembling the negatives, blowing up, overlapping and using multiple exposures. Furthermore, she adds text fragments. For the works from the 70's Astrid Klein transfers the pictoral material to photopaper, then to canvas and covers them with zinc-white paint. In doing this, the surfaces of her works appear more cooler and harder.

Astrid Klein attempts to eliminate the viewers’ possibility to recognize familiar images: in doing this, she questions the viewers' perception. The observer, who is looking for reference points and memories in his perception process automatically, is led astray by believing to have recognized the strap material, for example a filmstill. Because the pictorial material isn't assigned to any specific event, it is no longer fixated on his origin but is a timeless picture fragment.

 

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Furthermore, text is another important medium, which the artist, who studied painting and sculpture, employs in her works since the beginnings of her artistic career. She uses the language like a constituent, like a formal artistic medium, which appears overlaying or selectively sedate in blocks, fragments.
Without formulating a clear statement, the observer recognizes Textfragments from Philosophy, which for example are of Nietzsche or Bataille.
At first sight the used texts may stand in connection with the picture elements, but the observer soon gets aware , that text and image do not have they same origin and that both often stand even contrarily to each other.
The found real, the recognizes apparently automatically has to be questioned and it forces the observer to enter into an dialog with the works and to look for a new reality of one's own.
It just behaves also at those wall filling works, originally conceived for Dokumenta 8, 1987, in which the picture room doesn't remain uniform.
Here Astrid Klein breaks, cuts through the picture room analytically, subdivides him into single elements, which are separated by visible blanks.
Result are image sequences which show a symmetrical construction from time to time.
The observer is consequently tempted to connect the individual elements under each other, he will in vain, however, seek an obligatory way of harvest. The radical slice and slippery surfaces award to the mostly monumentally big works a skulpturalen character, which is strengthened by the way of the attachment in the rooms.The large picture trains glide over the wall on the floor and are in the room really.
The topics with which Astrid Klein deals cover role-specific questions, fear, force and terror.
But she doesn't formulate these topics directly, it is the construction of the work which leads the observer to these topics.
The underlying pictorial material already has an apellativen, immediate character which, mostly, is already given by the original function. She takes this aspect to the foreground by the processing with the numerous techniques already described.
It is essential for the artist that an emotional room is made between the picture and the observer, apart from Assignment of the pictures into its former contexts and without consideration for demand of the observer for an obligatory harvest kind of picture and text.

 

Installation Views
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Details
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Munich, May 18–July 29, 2006

Details
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Exhibited Works
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Flycatcher IV, 1987/91
More views

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher IV, 1987/91
Neon tubes, electric mosquito traps, steel pipe, sound
Height: 396.5. diameter ca. 100 cm
Height: 156 inches, diameter ca. 39 3/8 inche

More views
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (...VIOLÉE...), 1979
More views

Astrid Klein
Ohne Titel (…VIOLÉE…), 1979
Photowork, zinc white on canvas
158 x 127 cm (framed)
62 1/8 x 50 inches (framed)

More views
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (der verlorenen Zeit, denn ich erinnere...), 1987

Astrid Klein
Untitled (der verlorenen Zeit, denn ich erinnere…), 1987
Photowork (7 parts)
320 x 720 cm
126 x 295 1/4 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (Utopien denunzieren …), 1987

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Utopien denunzieren …), 1987
Photowork (8 parts)
320 x 750 cm
126 x 295 1/4 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Flycatcher III, 1981

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher III, 1981
fly strips, foil, audio recorder
198 x 305 cm
78 x 120 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (dass vollkommene Liebe...), 1979

Astrid Klein
Untitled (dass vollkommene Liebe…), 1979
Amplified photonegative collage
166.5 x 142 cm
65 1/2 x 56 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled, 1980

Astrid Klein
Untitled, 1980
Photowork
236 x 144 cm
93 x 56 3/4 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979
More views

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979
Photowork, zinc white on canvas
144 x 126.5 cm
56 3/4 x 49 7/8 inches

More views
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (Bataille...oder eine andere Erfahrung), 1988/93

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Bataille…oder eine andere Erfahrung), 1988/93
Acrylic, gypsum alabaster, photo, zinc white on canvas
174 x 222 cm
68 1/2 x 87 3/8 inches

Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein
Untitled (Die giftigen Fliegen …), 1988-93

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Die giftigen Fliegen …), 1988/93
Acrylic, gypsum alabaster, photo, zinc white on canvas
156 x 220 cm
61 3/8 x 86 5/8 inches

Details
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher IV, 1987/91
Neon tubes, electric mosquito traps, steel pipe, sound
Height: 396.5. diameter ca. 100 cm
Height: 156 inches, diameter ca. 39 3/8 inche

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher IV, 1987/91
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher IV, 1987-91 (detail)

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher III, 1987-91
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Ohne Titel (…VIOLÉE…), 1979
Photowork, zinc white on canvas
158 x 127 cm (framed)
62 1/8 x 50 inches (framed)

Astrid Klein
Untitled (...VIOLÉE...), 1979
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Ohne Titel (…VIOLÉE…), 1979 (detail)

Astrid Klein
Ohne Titel (...VIOLÉE...), 1979
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (der verlorenen Zeit, denn ich erinnere…), 1987
Photowork (7 parts)
320 x 720 cm
126 x 295 1/4 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (der verlorenen Zeit, denn ich erinnere...), 1987
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Utopien denunzieren …), 1987
Photowork (8 parts)
320 x 750 cm
126 x 295 1/4 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Utopien denunzieren …), 1987
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher III, 1981
fly strips, foil, audio recorder
198 x 305 cm
78 x 120 inches

Astrid Klein
Flycatcher III, 1981
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (dass vollkommene Liebe…), 1979
Amplified photonegative collage
166.5 x 142 cm
65 1/2 x 56 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (dass vollkommene Liebe...), 1979
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled, 1980
Photowork
236 x 144 cm
93 x 56 3/4 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled, 1980
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979
Photowork, zinc white on canvas
144 x 126.5 cm
56 3/4 x 49 7/8 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979 (detail)

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Müde vom Jungsein), 1979
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Bataille…oder eine andere Erfahrung), 1988/93
Acrylic, gypsum alabaster, photo, zinc white on canvas
174 x 222 cm
68 1/2 x 87 3/8 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Bataille...oder eine andere Erfahrung), 1988/93
Astrid Klein – Astrid Klein – Munich

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Die giftigen Fliegen …), 1988/93
Acrylic, gypsum alabaster, photo, zinc white on canvas
156 x 220 cm
61 3/8 x 86 5/8 inches

Astrid Klein
Untitled (Die giftigen Fliegen …), 1988-93
Details
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