Princess PomPom in the Villa of Falling Flowers
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy
18/06 – 1/07/2015*
Princess PomPom in the Villa of Falling Flowers presents itself as a dramatic exhaustion to the 427 gallery space. The narrative of the classic piece of Japanese Literature Genji Monogatari – The Tale of Prince Genji is being introduced as an environment study who’s protagonists are all equally degenderized and presented as an oversized scroll painting.
At the windows of the room cloudy character studies made of string hang from the ceiling. Gallery visitors are invited to enter the story through texture and not through text.
In collaboration with Kim? Contemporary Art Centre as a part of the project „Slash”.
The exhibition “Slash: In Between the Normative and the Fantasy” (curator: Kaspars Vanags) is the first time a public art institution in Latvia is turning towards “slashes” among contemporary art expression. More than 20 years had to pass since the decriminalization of homosexuality for such an exhibition, influenced by the digitalisation of personal life, to be possible – borrowing from the open-source mentality. The other, here, isn’t juxtaposed to the norm as something locked in the solitude of an individual strangeness or an impossible taboo, but as an awareness of an essentially recognizable, reachable, and modifiable aspect of personal identity.
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (1984, New York) lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles. He completed the Rijksakademie international artist residency in Amsterdam in 2010 and his undergraduate degree at The Cooper Union School of Art, New York in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions include: “Port”, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Los Angeles; “Lutz-Kinoy’s Loose Bodies”, Elaine – Museum für Gegenwarts Kunst, Basel (2013); “Matthew’s Secret”, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam (2013); “Werk is Free / Be Free! May Day”, Outpost, Norwich, UK (2013); and “KERAMIKOS” – a touring exhibition with Natsuko Uchino at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Kunsthalle Baden-Baden; Elaine Museum für Ge- genwarts Kunst, Basel and Villa Romana Florence (2012-2013). He has staged performances at the Kunsthalle Baden- Baden; Nomas Foundation, Rome; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and the New Museum, New York. His videos have been screened at the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Berlinale Film Festival; New Museum, New York; and White Chapel Gallery, London.
Support: State Culture Capital Foundation, Kim? Contemporary Art Center, VKN, Mozaīka, Valmiermuižas alus
*The exhibition was abruptly close because 427 gallery suddenly were kicked out of the space
Photos: Ansis Starks