Angelika J. Trojnarski

New Adventures . Part 3 . Ghost towns in California...

Walking through the remains of American ghost towns, e.g. the historic gold and silver mining towns of Bodie and Calico, it felt like my paintings came to life.  Shacks, booths and houses exist as they were left, still furnished and stocked with goods - frozen in time, covered with a patina.

In their heydays, these towns were the epitomes of the Wild West, offered red light districts  and countless saloons. Bodie had the reputation of "a sea of sin, lashed by he tempest of lust and passion".

I brought tons of pictures back home... Stay tuned.

'After the Gold Rush' at Kinsey/DesForges, Los Angeles

After travelling one month in California, here finally some images of my second solo.

More of the opening via Arrested Motion, TRYHARDER, and Lainya Magana, with a good description of my philosophy and work.

Pictures 2 & 3 courtesy Arrested Motion.

Saatchi says, you should have a look, so please do!

new adventures . part 2 . spreepark berlin...

...or: the pigeon on the hot tin roof.

the story of the spreepark berlin reflects my artistic philosophy 'the human lapse': the human delusion in all its self destructing consequences, paired with an all-encompassing indifference.

years ago the 'spreepark berlin' was a big fun fair. now a few remaining rides rust in silence and headless dinosaurs still preserve the past. the metal skeletons pride themselves of more glamorous days.
 
the park's history symbolises the ups and downs, rise and fall, and life on the fast lane of his creator norbert witte and his family.
after a time of success the kermis king - addicted to giantism and egoism - wanted to build the biggest german leisure park after the fall of the wall. after failing big, debts rose and getaway plans emerged.

norbert witte's flight to peru (with some rides in several containers and family) after his spectacular bankruptcy, was a manoeuvre of great brazenness - rewarded by his second failure.

later, to once again redevelop his broken enterprise, witte incited a cocaine smuggling inside his attraction 'flying carpet'.
the coup of course failed badly: witte's son is imprisoned in peru for 20 years, witte himself - luckily in germany at the time - was jailed for six years.

today he is planning his comeback.

flattened fauna : 'the' field guide for the naturalist in a hurry

"Roger Knutson, a biologist at Luther College, has put together a truly ingenious little book. A guide to the "really most sincerely dead" animals one often sees along streets, roads, and highways. While some may dismiss this book as a parody of other field guides, it is full of accurate, meaningful biological information about animals that frequent roads and roadsides, and that often find themselves smashed into two dimensions.

This is a guide to the animal remains left behind after most carrion feeders and decomposers are done with a dead animal. The book is well written, it is fun, and can be used throughout much of North America."

picture courtesy amazon.

all right!
...and now, let's explore the gorgeous paintings of klaus geigle!
here are my favorites:

untitled, 120x150 cm, oil on canvas

median strip, 30x41 cm, oil on canvas

pictures courtesy klaus geigle.

addendum:

'Anne Koskinen’s work made for the Project Room at the Pori Art Museum is called Deus Protector Noster. The piece consists of roadkill she has found along the route between Pori and Helsinki, which she has cast in bronze. The bronze pieces have a timeless subtlety to them, while they also function as topical reminders of the impact our actions have on nature.'

pictures courtesy anna koskinen.

music tip: 'die neue härte'...

...by my fellow student henning straßburger!

have fun with his first single - a mix of rammstein and david hasselhoff, i would say!

moving into 'kulturbahnhof eller'

julia rothmund and me finally moved into our huge new artist space located in a former railway building in düsseldorf!

julia, a fellow student of mine, and myself have been selected for a scholarship by kulturbahnhof eller. for over 20 years now this place has been used for exhibitions and as a summer residence for young artists.

our two months residence is followed by an exhibition (23. august - 13. september), you are cordially invited to visit.
opening: august, 23rd, 11.30 am
introduction by gertrud peters, project director of 'KIT - Kunst im Tunnel'.

new adventures . part 1 . beelitz heilstätten

around my exhibition opening in berlin i spent a few days visiting unusual places like the abandoned sanatorium beelitz heilstätten.

after two days there i felt like needing an anti-mildew cure!

 

la metamorfosi

my painting 'life is a gregor samsa' has been published by il narratore on a cd cover for the italian audiobook 'the metamorphosis' by franz kafka.

buttonmania

some works of my sewn collages 'eyecaramba' are offered as buttons, Ø 25 mm.
designs, information and order at prickie.

woodberg mountain

looks like after a natural disaster - but it's a wood waste dump in düsseldorf I visited searching for installation stuff & construction material for my next exhibitions. 

my xanadu.

killing ships in chittagong

in chittagong, south bangladesh, the world disposes of their colossal ships - at the cost of thousands of workers 'killing' those ships with their bare hands.

a place like a huge poisonous dump (asbestos, oil and gas drums, arsenic and cadmium, et al.), where ant-sized humans clean up our first-world mess.

i have seen many pictures of this graveyard before (while researching for some smaller works), but the movie "eisenfresser / iron eaters" by shaheen dill-riaz hauntingly tops all of them. (the movie title is derived from a quote of one of the ship wreckers: "if you are really hungry, you will eat everything, even iron.")

order the movie "eisenfresser / iron eaters" at netz@bangladesch.org to support netz's quest for a human life of all ship breakers in bangladesh. the dvd costs 12 euro excl. charge, languages are english and german, 85 minutes long.

pictures courtesy of shaheen dill-riaz.

my art to go

modofly offers - in collaboration with international painters, designers and illustrators - artfully printed note- and sketchbooks.
angelika j. trojnarski's artworks are 'ahab', 'skeleton park IV' and 'skeleton park XI'.
size: 8 x 5 inch / 20,3 x 12,7 cm, ruled or blank

information and order: modofly.net
high res pics: flickr.com

head on my bread

yeah, this is my kind of humor!
the thai artist kittiwat unarrom bakes body parts: bread as heads, legs and internal organs. more pictures on inventorspot.

picture courtesy inventorspot.

video courtesy youtube.

in contrast to this masterpiece have a look now at damien hirst's uninspired and crazy expensive sculpture. he just copied a small anatomy puppet (the 14" young scientist anatomy set by humbrol). what a creative masterstroke, burro!

pictures courtesy dinosaursandrobots.

who needs 'die hard' when you can die slow

better than a fireplace: "nummer acht by guido van der werve".

for people who like white out: "nuclear submarine breaking through the ice".

ghost town tourism

a visit to pripjat aka chernobyl, a small town near to the sarcophagus of the nuclear plant.
andreas müller photographed the city. see his pictures at 'andreas müller: leben in der todeszone'.
the amusement park in this ghost town was one of my earlier series 'skeleton park'. i'm so enamored of this place that i will travel to pripjat next summer!

picture courtesy andreas müller, FAZ.

poles do the darndest light shows

"some poles calling themselves project piwo have been creating huge animations using the windows of soviet era bloks and the larger office buildings around poland. in this video, they recreate the james bond opening by flashing lights throughout the building." by crunch gear.

videos courtesy project piwo.

docu soap in my studio

"In her studio in Düsseldorf, artist Angelika J. Trojnarski searches for beauty in the leftovers of a man-made wasteland."
Produced, photographed and edited by: Dutch Rall for iNCONTEXT.TV / a production of KLRU Austin PBS, Texas.

.embed or share via vimeo

naked city spleen

have a look at the artworks of miru kim: great abandoned places - but i prefer them without her naked booty.

picture courtesy miru kim.

get more details and listen to her at TED: "making art of new york's urban ruins ".

theo jansen : strandbeests

my affection for skeleton structures is moved by theo jansen:

"since 1990 i have been occupied creating new forms of life. not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. i make skeletons that are able to walk on the wind, so they don’t have to eat. over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually i want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives."

watch his introduction on TED "theo jansen creates new creatures".

picture courtesy theo jansen.

you have a pig face!

the german-born us-living artist heide hatry about her art:

"the portraits in 'heads and tales' are photographic documentations of sculptures i made out of animal skin and body parts. i used untreated pigskin to cover a sculpture i had made out of clay, with raw meat for the lips and fresh pig eyes in order that the resulting portrait would appear as if it were looking at the viewer with a vital expression which the photographer had just captured at that moment."


picture courtesy heide hatry.