Keith Arnatt
Notes
September 14–November 2, 2013
Berlin
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present an exhibition of work by British artist Keith Arnatt (1930–2008) in Berlin, which will be the artist’s first solo presentation with Sprüth Magers. The exhibition will showcase photographs from the artist’s series Notes from Jo (1991–1995), in which Arnatt photographed personal notes and domestic reminders written to him by his late wife. Also on display will be work from the series Labels Borrowed/Stolen (1993–1995), featuring photographs of labels and signs taken from local shops.
Keith Arnatt was one of the UK’s leading artists during the emergence of conceptual art in the 1960’s and 1970’s. His work from this period explores the range of possibilities of meaning and function within art, as well as considering how the perception of an artwork operates in relation to the act of creating a work. The artist’s extensive use of photography during this time was mainly to record works whose physicality was connected to specific contexts. From 1973, Arnatt began to develop a growing interest in the camera as an instrument for art making, adopting the camera as his primary tool for producing art rather than simply documenting it. The artist’s subsequent photographic series underscore his analytic method of working, and reveal an observational style influenced by his awareness of the typological preoccupations of artists and photographers such as Bernd and Hilla Becher.
