PAST EXHIBITION
Lehmann Maupin Gallery at ShContemporary 2008
September 10, 2008—September 13, 2008

Press Release

Lehmann Maupin is thrilled to announce the gallery's participation in ShContemporary 2008. Here we will devote our booth to the work of digital artist Jennifer Steinkamp. The Los Angeles based artist continues to explore ideas of space and motion with these works and is applying new media technology to create illusionistic environments.

On view at ShContemporary will be works from Steinkamp's oeuvre including Dervish, Rapunzel and Formation.

Dervish was inspired by a ritual practiced by the priests, or dervishes, of the Mevlavi sect of Islam. In the midst of a trance, the dervishes whirl in a motion symbolizing the soul's release from earthly ties and communication with the divine. The trees reflect this ritualistic movement through the rhythmic and stylized swaying and swiveling of the branches. For Rapunzel, Steinkamp was inspired by the Grimm fairy tale of Rapunzel whose mother became addicted to the rampion flower. This series consists of gently swaying vines. Their playful movement is seemingly natural, yet tension is created between the physical space where her work is shown and the invented landscape. Falling multi-colored sheets shimmer and tumble as if over invisible surfaces in the series Formation. The walls where the work is shown seem to be jagged plains. This illusion of the virtual revealing the invisible is representative of Steinkamp's continued investigations into individual perceptions.

Also on view at ShContemporary will be new work by Tracey Emin alongside works on paper by the Korean artist, Lee Bul. Recently Tracey Emin opened her retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh which then travels onto Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in 2009. Lee Bul is currently participating in the Mobile Art: Chanel Contemporary Art Container travelling worldwide through Tokyo, London and New York.

For more information please visit www.lehmannmaupin.com or contact Courtney Plummer at 212 255 2923 or Courtney@LehmannMaupin.com.

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