Abetz & Drescher - Big Bang

Egbert Baqué Contemporary Art presents a solo exhibition of new paintings from the unique artist couple Abetz & Drescher. Preview: Friday, 24 August 2012, 7 - 9 pm Christoph Tannert, curator and art critic, wrote about the works of Maike Abetz and Oliver Drescher: "What's most surprising with Abetz & Drescher's images is that they stubbornly resist all current ideals in sound design. They feature none of the murderously compressed studio sounds, which today are accounted for as edginess; everything in these images is soft, flowing, ornamental, fluorescent adolescent under reversed premises. By conceiving it as an ever-changing process, Abetz & Drescher relentlessly put design to the test, trying to strike an approximate balance between soft touch and cathartic noise. Their imagery has something quelling about it, something open to interpretation – presumably because the cover stars of the Sixties are being recalled from oblivion. This is the very reason for their particular appeal. It has nothing to do with nostalgia. Captivating melodies struggle into the open, cutting through a thick pencilled jungle threatening to colonize the record player. These are images for folk heroes, for legendary figures, images for gods. With their floral lines, and stoned like a bunch of hippies, they quietly and unceremoniously thrust us into nirvana to the sounds of organs. Great visions have collapsed. Today's fashion is strictly compartmented but the old magic mends it all." The old magic – it’s been 50 years since Bob Dylan on March 19th 1962 released his debut album, since a band named The Rolling Stones appeared for the first time on July 12th 1962 at the Marquee Club in London, and since The Beatles came out with their first single ‘Love Me Do’ on October 5th 1962. In that year, there was a kind of big bang, which decisively shaped history in the second half of the 20th century, culture in all its manifestations, and eventually also politics. Dylan, Stones and Beatles – the three fixed stars of the rock and pop-era were born. Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Kinks, The Doors, and countless others followed them in a literal rock explosion, which still influences music, fashion, film and art. Today, 50 years later, we are celebrating this Big Bang with an exhibition by Abetz & Drescher. Keep on rockin' and save the date – the preview is Friday, August 24th 2012.