Past Residents
Past Resident2013: Institut Français
Farah Atassi
Farah Atassi paints interiors associated with the industrial world from the 1930s to the beginning of the 1970s. Her paintings often include references to modernism in the form of objects located in the depicted space, things like models of industrial landscapes, children’s toys and furniture. The empty interiors are in sense inhabited by these objects whose status is equivocal in as much as they are artistic references, which are also evocative of workers’ lives. In some works they are installed, like the displays, or simply piled up. In others, they are tools that no longer fulfill their function.
Born (Brussels, 1981) to Syrian parents, Farah Atassi lives and works in Paris. She is one of the most well-know of a very young generation of French painters. Having graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in 2005, she is represented by Xippas Gallery, which presented her first solo show in 2011. She also had solo shows at galerie Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers and Les Eglises Art Center in Chelles. Her work is included in the collection of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and is currently on view in the exhibition Fruits of Passion. In 2011, she participated in the 6the Curitiba Biennale in Brazil and in the exhibitions 2000-2011 : Soudain, Déjà, curated by Guillaume Désanges, at Ensba, Paris and Pearls of the North, Palais d’Iéna, Paris. In 2010, She was included in the group exhibition Dynasty at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Palais de Tokyo. In 2012, she was awarded the first Bredin-Prat Prize for contemporary art.
Farah Atassi, Rec Room, 2012, Oil on canvas, 67 × 79 in. (170.18 × 200.66 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Workshop III, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 71 in. (200.66 × 180.34 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Playroom II, 2012, Oil and glycero on canvas, 79 × 71 in. (200.66 × 180.34 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Toy Town, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 63 in. (200.66 × 160.02 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Toy City, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 63 in. (200.66 × 160.02 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Residents from France
Past Resident2013: KdFS Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
Johannes Rochhausen
Johannes Rochhausen constructs a fictional absence of worldly matters and turns the artist‘s studio, a special case of the classic interior, into the focal point of his work. Little is shown in the paintings, there is no narrative in the classical sense, but there is still a great feeling of suspense. Rochhausen does not toy with any kind of voyeurism, with the notion of gaining a look at hidden spheres. Instead, he composes highly elaborate structures, where colour and light, surface and space, object and atmosphere are the protagonists inhabiting the interior.
Johannes Rochhausen (born 1981, Leipzig) studied painting at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB), Leipzig, Germany. His work has recently been presented in group exhibitions at Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca; Museum MARTA Herford; Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City; Kunsthaus Interlaken; Black Door Istanbul; Kunstmuseum Magdeburg; Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig; Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg; Drents Museum, Assen and Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn. His solo exhibitions include Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt; Schlechtriem Brothers, Berlin; Galerie Hafen Rand, Hamburg; HGB Galerie, Leipzig and Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt. Rochhausen’s work belongs to the following collections: Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig, Museum am Dom, Würzburg and Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal.
Johannes Rochhausen, Atelier Edgar Leciejewski, 2012, Charcoal, black chalk and ink on paper, 59 × 79 in. (149.86 × 200.66 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Johannes Rochhausen, Abstellraum, 2010, Oil and egg tempera on canvas, 17 × 13 in. (43.18 × 33.02 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Johannes Rochhausen, Raumstudie (Atelier #11), 2011, Charcoal, black chalk and ink on paper, 75 × 59 in. (190.5 × 149.86 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Johannes Rochhausen, Atelieransicht XI, 2009, Oil and egg tempera on canvas, 79 × 110 in. (200.66 × 279.4 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Johannes Rochhausen, Atelieransicht XII, 2009, Oil and egg tempera on canvas, 98 × 67 in. (248.92 × 170.18 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Germany
Past Resident2013: Foundation for a Civil Society
Heldi Pema
Heldi Pema’s artwork takes a critical view of cultural, social and political issues. He plays with the illusion of time and space, leading through his perception of the world. He uses a variety of materials and mediums such as photography, sound and installation. His recent interest involves old and new prints, texts and magazines as he develops a growing series of interventions. He reframes imagery by creating his own characters and stories.
Heldi Pema was born in Albania. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, has attended Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (Austria) several times, and was awarded AIR by “KulturKontakt” in Vienna and “O’Artoteca” in Milan. His work has been shown at the 52nd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Albanian Pavilion; Museum of Contemporary Art – Villa Croce, Genova; European Month of Photography, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin; ViennAfair, Vienna; 2nd Tirana Biennale; The National Gallery of Arts, Tirana; A+A Gallery, Venice and The Promenade Gallery, Vlora.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Francisco Montoya Cázarez and Heldi Pema
January 15, 2013
Heldi Pema, Skipping, 2009. Courtesy of the artist.
Heldi Pema, Open Space, 2006, 70 × 50 in. (177.8 × 127 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Heldi Pema, Splitting Atoms, 2011, White and red ink on magazine, 8 × 11 in. (20.32 × 27.94 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Heldi Pema, Recreation, 2009. Courtesy of the artist.
