M.O.R.

JAN VEDDER

March / April 2017

Avlskarl Gallery is proud to present Jan Vedder’s second solo show at the gallery titled ”M.O.R. – Master of Rap.” The title refers to one of the works of the exhibition and to the German hip-hop band with that same name.

Vedder’s work have clear references to pop art. The British art critic Lawrence Alloway coins the term “pop art” in 1958 to describe the anonymous universe of popular culture. Vedder, however, has left behind the icons of the past and with a very personal approach made the modern image universe into his own. Everyday coincidences and absurdities are modified in Vedder’s universe. The transformation to Vedder’s artistic expression, not the object in itself, becomes central.

Vedder often takes his point of departure in a mass produced universe of images, but everyday image flows are transformed into an expression that does not follow earlier dogmas and ideas. This is seen in works like “Drei Frauen Im Badezimmer” The motif is taken from a fashion magazine: A photo of three women in a bathroom posing in Nina Ricci lingerie. Another motif is Vedder standing guard in front of the French fashion store Hermes in Düsseldorf.

Vedder puts his own colors and experimental aesthetics into the pictures. The paintings are emptied of the immediate symbolic and a new reality emerges. Vedder steps out of the picture and creates a new structure and a new painting where the viewer must create the sense and meaning.