DatesTextImagesBios
Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock

The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief

3 October until 1 November 2014

PV: 2 October, 7 – 9pm

Art Licks Weekend: extended hours throughout 3, 4, 5 October, 12 – 6pm

Erika Hock‘s practice is characterised by the fluid crossover in between sculptural and architectural elements, as well as a recent extended interest in tapestries and furniture that investigate meeting points between history, society and culture. Invested in discussions surrounding functionality and aesthetics, interior design and the perception of the body to the built environment, formed specifically for this exhibition Hock has centred her research upon the anecdotes surrounding Adolf Loos’s design for Josephine Baker’s house.

Josephine Baker’s body as well as the building designed for her has become the subject of various studies, particularly in terms of understanding them as a surface for projecting modernist ideas at the convergence of art and architecture; theatricality and voyeurism. Hock’s playful panels of black and white felt reimagine the architectural body to the detail of the peeping widows as eyes, while evoke a playful theme of jazz. Treating the subject more generously, much like Sonia Delaunay’s and other early 20th century avant-garde artists’ textiles, they don’t describe a scene, a space or a character, but become it. Existing in between sculpture, wall based work and architecture, the tapestries explore the body’s relation to objects’ shape, form and scale through active presence and participation in the space. 

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Installation view. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Erika Hock, The Seamstress, Her Mistress, the Mason and the Thief. Tenderpixel.

Photography by Original&theCopy.

Erika Hock (b 1981 Dschangi-Dscher, Kyrgyz Republic) lives and works in Brussels and Duesseldorf. She graduated from the HISK – Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent BE in 2013 and completed studies at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf DE in 2009 under Professors Rita McBride and Irmin Kamp.

Recent solo show include those at Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg At (2015);  Elbows & Knees, COSAR HMT Gallery, Düsseldorf DE (2015);  The Seamstress, Her Misstress, the Mason and the Thief, Tenderpixel, London UK (2014); Kunst aus NRW, Aachen-Kornelimünster (with Jan Paul Evers) (2013); Architecture, Anyone? Het Paviljoen, Ghent (in collaboration with Clare Noonan) (2013);  New Positions, Art Cologne with COSAR HMT, Cologne (2013); Rehearsal, COSAR HMT, Düsseldorf  DE (2011) and CINEORAMA – Pavilion of Moving Images, Jacobigarten, Düsseldorf  DE (in cooperation with Philipp Fürnkäs) (2011).

Recent group show include Un-Scene III, Wiels, Brussels BE (2015); The Catwalk, Komplot, Brussels BE (2015);  Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig DE (2015); The Unfettered Gaze, Museum Marta, Herford DE (2014); Concept Store, NEST, The Hague NL (2014) ; Fair shape of the whip, Herrman Germann Contemporary, Zurich CH (2014);  Labyr 1, Euroboden Hochbunker, Munich DE (2014); Combinations, LOOP Art Space, Seoul  KR (2013); TRANSFER, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf  DE (2013); Diplomats and Martyrs, Deutsches Haus, London UK (2013);  blowing the whistle, Philara – Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst, Düsseldorf  DE (2013);  Defining Space, Die Bastei, Cologne DE (2013); Geometrie Variable, Les Crayeres, Reims FR (2013); Nam June Paik Award 2012/ Förderpreis 2010, Kunstmuseum Bochum DE (2012) and he / she / it / did / said / would, Tenderpixel, London UK (2012);