303 Gallery is pleased to present Turning Tides and Hidden Tracks, an exhibition of paintings by Till Gerhard in the gallery's Project Room.
In his paintings, Till Gerhard revives the tradition of landscape painting with motifs from pop-, hippie- and counterculture in an almost mystical and at times eerie way. Thus, the protagonists of his paintings are immersed in the landscapes, performing strange rituals, or seemingly dissolving into nature. These processes of dissolution find their equivalent in the painting, which is characterized by strong colors, a special use of light, and abstract elements that overlay, disrupt, and rhythmically imbue the scene.
Gerhard's works in the exhibition Turning Tides and Hidden Tracks describe intermediate states and transitional periods, also reflecting this in their multi-layered painting style, which oscillates between representational and abstract painting. These intermediate states are addressed thematically in several ways. A change of tide from high tide to low tide, with a female figure reflected in the receding water at the edge of a beach. Often, a kind of twilight or dusk prevails, the transition from day to night, or as if from a slightly hazy dream state to waking consciousness. Gerhard's figures are located in the zone between land and sea or on edges, which can be interpreted symbolically as the threshold between the subconscious and the conscious. The title of the work Cheiron alludes to a famous centaur from Greek mythology, and we see this hybrid creature of man and horse emerging in a kind of fusion. Gerhard's works seem to contain many secret layers or "hidden tracks", which give the images something unspoken and mysterious.
Till Gerhard (*1971 in Hamburg) lives and works in northern Germany. He studied Fine Art and Illustration in Kiel and Hamburg. Currently his works are shown at the Ostfriesland Biennale and at Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven. Recently Gerhard had a Solo Show at Kunstverein Heilbronn. Group exhibitions include the Whitechapel Gallery, CA2M Madrid, MuBA Eugène Leroy, Tripostal Lille, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthalle Kiel, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium.