FOLLOW THE WINTER

Solo exhibition of new paintings, collages and photos at Skew Gallery, Calgary, Canada

May 31st to June 30th

Opening May 31st - 6pm

Every day on the way to my Berlin studio, I pass a miserable old jail that has the kind of history that makes one feel queasy. A sign hangs out front that reads ÒLive In A MonumentÓ. They are renovating the jail into condos. The sign is meant for me and the rest of the city's ex-pats and transplants. The thought of living in this monument would sicken anyone who had lived with the threat of being forced to. I moved to this city to be with Julia. She was born in East Berlin. To care for her I pay very close attention to what my hands are doing. What marks they leave, what they pick up, how well they can make someone understand something. This means my actions in the studio feel even more harrowing. Or maybe they are now balanced by an equal weight held in something that cannot be inventoried between its walls and my skin. To love is to feel loss. To love Julia here is to encounter it at the end of every block. On my tram ride to the studio, I ask myself: How do you maintain a ruin? How do you follow the winter?