In this digital age, vinyl records, cassettes, and videotapes have become nostalgic items, and these media that are covered in dust from the past are the favorite creative elements of German artist Gregor Hildebrandt. Perrotin (Hong Kong) recently presented his second exhibition in Hong Kong titled “Behind My Back, in Front of My Eyes,” showcasing his unique “sound paper” art.
“Sound paper” is a tape used to record and play audio, and as times change, sound paper is also used in different contexts. Gregor Hildebrandt chooses to use this medium to create silence. Before creating, he records the melody, rhythm, and effects of the selected songs on an empty tape, then sticks the tape on a canvas, tears it off, creating his iconic rip-off canvas paintings, visualizing music while becoming a silent metaphor. Gregor Hildebrandt also repeatedly records favorite songs on old vinyl records with similar qualities to tapes, preserving nostalgic memories, and turning them into art pieces.
The exhibition “Behind‧In Front” by Beihao Deng starts with the installation of “White flower pointing up (Alphaville)” at the gallery entrance. This diptych structure piece was inspired by Beihao Deng’s trip to Japan, with the image taken from a napkin he saw at a local restaurant. Beihao Deng uses a “tearing” technique on the same canvas to create a positive and negative effect, both made up of a collage of a cassette tape containing the 80s German underground synth-pop band Alphaville’s song “Big in Japan,” leading viewers from the past to the future through the memory of sound. This unique “symmetrical” and “front-back” structure brings out the theme of “Behind‧In Front.”
From the common wall that separates the two exhibition halls inside the gallery, you can find a series of new black and white “tear off” paintings created by Gregor Hildebrandt starting from the symmetrical surface of “White flower pointing up (Alphaville)”. The exhibition space also uniquely adopts the design concept of mirror reflection, allowing the entire set of works to be connected through the walls in a back-to-back and opposite hanging manner, echoing the contrasting artistic concept.
In addition to his black and white works, Gregor Hildebrandt also created colorful “tear-off” paintings for the first time using acrylic adhesive. Inspired by his childhood game of “secret painting,” he copied multiple films onto videotapes, and then spontaneously used different colors to brush his impressions of these films on canvas, creating this series of colorful works.
It is worth mentioning that this exhibition brings a three-dimensional work “On the Actor” (Sur le comédien). This colorful vinyl column standing in the exhibition hall takes its colors from the work “Paradoxe sur le comédien” by the minimalist master Frank Stella. In addition, he re-presents the poster of the film “Stranger Than Paradise” by Jim Jarmusch on a cassette tape box using inkjet printing, and mixes “sound” into it through the overlapping of materials, revealing innovative ideas.
Date: From now until November 20th
Time: (Tuesday to Saturday) 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Location: Unit 807, K11 ATELIER Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Learn more: Perrotin
圖片來源：貝浩登, instagram@galerieperrotin, grzegorzkiproduction
