Bernhard Martin (b. 1966) is one of those painters, we might call them visual vagabonds, who trawl the seas of the internet, social media as well as art history for images to process. Passionately, Martin seizes on images, which trigger desires, fears and nausea. Intermingled with his own world of private desires he translates the material by sophisticated painterly means into nightmares. Here, erotic fantasies mix with the newspeak of newsreaders. Hot air is turned into humbug. Garbage is spoken. And among the codswallop and the hammer and tongs is the occasional eye and ear. Everything is possible. Everything is conceivable. Nothing is out of the question in the furious, rousing imagery between the depiction of saints and of the apocalypse, which Bernhard Martin has created since the 1990s.

Image Ballet represents a first survey of the artist, who grew up in Kassel, has lived in Barcelona, Nice and London before making his home on the banks of the river Spree in Berlin. On the occasion of the show he has created a new cycle on the subject of influencers, press conferences, fake news and language. In the catalogue Munich based philosopher Björn Vedder develops further insights into these subjects. In addition, publisher Florian Illies elicits provocative comments on painting from the artist in the catalogue interview.

The exhibition catalogue is released.

Talk between Bernhard Martin and Bazon Brock

Artist talk with Bernhard Martin and Katja Blomberg