Hoap of a Tree

PHILIPP FRÖHLICH:

“Hoap of a Tree”

In “Hoap of a Tree” I present eight paintings in various different sizes, all painted over the last two years specifically for this showing at Galería Juana de Aizpuru, as well as two sets of papers and a folding screen.

The title of the exhibition comes from Russell Hoban’s novel “Riddley Walker”, written in a made-up dialect that hints at multiple meanings and connections, most of which are both absurd and telling. I’ve had this wonderful book on my mind for several years now, and all these pieces are connected to it in one way or another.

I’ve always been fascinated by the images our mind creates when we read, see, or hear something, that are created unconsciously and become part of us, since they’re based on our experience. This especially interests me when different matters that at first glance don’t seem to have much in common suddenly mix and blend together.

That way, the pieces in this exhibition were influenced by subject matters such as the strategies trees have for surviving and reproducing, the massacre on the island of Utoya in Norway, Japanese screen painting, particularly the “Namban”, and music by Current 93, Elvis, Scott Walker, Baby Dee, and Gustav Mahler.

As I often do, this time I also previously built physical scale models to make my imaginary ideas  tangible, which then acted as models for the paintings.

Philipp Fröhlich
Madrid, July 2015

Review by Sergio Batllés at kedin.es:
http://kedin.es/madrid/que-hacer/exposicion-de-philipp-frohlich-en-la-galeria-juana-de-aizpuru-de-madrid.html

Galería juana de aizpuru. barquillo 44, 28004 madrid. España. T: 34-913105561; fax: 34-913195286. e-mail: aizpuru@juanadeaizpuru.es