Masks (Merkel F6.1)

2016 - Painting (Painting)

104.14 x 58.42 x 1.91 cm.

Simon Fujiwara

location: Berlin, Germany
year born: 1982
gender: male
nationality: British

Masks is a series of abstract paintings by Simon Fujiwara that together form a giant, fragmented portrait of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s face. Masks (Merkel F6.1) was created in consultation with Merkel’s personal make-up artist; it features the special makeup that Merkel wears for HD cameras applied onto canvas. The image has been magnified to a near-microscopic level, rendering an ambiguous skin tone across which the makeup’s denser patches produce an abstract composition. Masks is an exhaustive and fragmented documentary project that intimately depicts one of the world’s most powerful women with an entirely new set of images that disappear the closer you approach. In this way, it takes the conventions of ethnographic imagery to a posthuman dimension by amplifying a constituent part of the complete subject of “Angela Merkel” to the point of unrecognizability.


The intersection of identity, memory, and history is taken up in Simon Fujiwara’s complex multimedia practice. The British-Japanese artist takes real world structures, thoughts, and events as his subject, constructing idiosyncratic narratives that emerge from these miasmatic creations. This work chronicles current conditions even as they demand attention in their capricious, oftentimes uncomfortable forms. While his practice borders on anthropological in its examinations, the products that derive from his work often turns their speculation towards the work’s viewership, who become affectively compelled to examine their own subjectivity in interacting with Fujiwara’s oeuvre.


Colors:



Related works featuring themes of: » Collective History, » Contemporary Conceptualism, » Found Objects, » Mixed-Media, » British  
» see more

Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock)
© » KADIST

Mateo Lopez

2012

With Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock, 2012) and Roca Grafito ( Graphite Rock , 2012), López plays with our relationship to inert and unremarkable objects such as rocks...

The Book Cover series
© » KADIST

Heman Chong

2009

With a habit of reading eight to ten books at the same time, Chong paints his two-foot tall novel covers through referencing an extensive reading list (accessible on Facebook) he has kept since 2006...

Exquisite Eco Living (executive Properties series)
© » KADIST

Vincent Leong

2012

The photograph Exquisite Eco Living is part of a larger series titled Executive Properties in which he digitally manipulated the images to insert iconic buildings of Kuala Lumpur in the view of derelict spaces also found in the city...

I can’t believe we are still protesting
© » KADIST

Wong Wai Yin

2021

Drawn from the widely circulated images of protests around the world in support of women rights and racial equality, the phrase I can’t believe we are still protesting is both the title of Wong Wai Yin’s photographic series and a reference to similar messages seen on protest signages...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock)
© » KADIST

Mateo Lopez

2012

With Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock, 2012) and Roca Grafito ( Graphite Rock , 2012), López plays with our relationship to inert and unremarkable objects such as rocks...

The Book Cover series
© » KADIST

Heman Chong

2009

With a habit of reading eight to ten books at the same time, Chong paints his two-foot tall novel covers through referencing an extensive reading list (accessible on Facebook) he has kept since 2006...

Flutter
© » KADIST

Zarouhie Abdalian

2010

The first iteration of Flutter was specifically conceived for the Pro Arts Gallery space in Oakland in 2010, viewable from the public space of a sidewalk, and the version acquired by the Kadist Collection is an adaptation of it...

Meeting #100
© » KADIST

Jonathan Monk

Meeting #100 is one in a series of text works by Jonathan Monk...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

Blindseye Arranger (Max)
© » KADIST

Brian Bress

2013

Blindseye Arranger (Max) (2013) features a greyscale arrangement of rudimentary shapes layered atop one another like a dense cluster of wood block prints, the juxtaposition of sharp lines and acute angles creating an abstracted field of rectangular and triangulated forms composed as if in a cubist landscape...

The Syphilis of Sisyphus
© » KADIST

The Syphilis of Sisyphus , a conversation with Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley A special event in collaboration with Poetry Day, a weekend-long celebration convened by Centre Pompidou in Paris...

Music Stands: Free Exercise 7, 8, and 9
© » KADIST

Marina Rosenfeld

2019

The installation Music Stands: Free Exercise 7, 8, and 9 by Marina Rosenfeld consists of music stand-like structures and a corresponding set of panels and acoustic devices that direct, focus, obstruct, reflect and project sound in the gallery...

Fabienne Verdier — Horizons et Chênes-lièges
© » SLASH PARIS

Fabienne Verdier — Horizons et Chênes-lièges — Lelong & Co Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Fabienne Verdier — Horizons et Chênes-lièges — Lelong & Co Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Fabienne Verdier — Horizons et Chênes-lièges Exhibition Painting Fabienne Verdier, Chêne-liège #4, 2023 Pastel gras et pastel sec sur vélin d’Arches teinté — 49 × 28 cm Courtesy de l’artiste et galerie Lelong & Co...

Related works from the » 2010's created around » Berlin, Germany  
» see more

Office Voodoo
© » KADIST

Haegue Yang

2010

In addition to Yang’s signature drying rack and light bulbs, Office Voodoo includes various office supplies like CDs, paper clips, headphones, a computer mouse, a stamp, a hole puncher, a mobile phone charger...

¿Quién medirá el espacio, quién me dirá el momento?, 1 (columna alfarero)
© » KADIST

Mariana Castillo Deball

2015

Taking archaeology as her departure point to examine the trajectories of replicated and displaced objects, “Who will measure the space, who will tell me the time?” was produced in Oaxaca for her exhibition of the same title at the Contemporary Museum of Oaxaca (MACO) in 2015...

Versions
© » KADIST

Oliver Laric

2012

Oliver Laric’s video Versions is part of an ongoing body of work that has continued to evolve and mutate over time...

Related artist(s) to: Simon Fujiwara » Danh Vo, » Jonathan Monk, » Karl Holmqvist, » Ryan Gander, » Aki Sasamoto, » Arin Rungjang, » Claire Fontaine, » Harun Farocki, » Keren Cytter, » Nairy Baghramian  
» see more

Serious Games 3, Immersion
© » KADIST

Harun Farocki

2009

For Immersion , Harun Farocki went to visit a research centre near Seattle specialized in the development of virtual realities and computer simulations...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Keren Cytter

“Untitled” is inspired by the movie “Opening Night” by John Cassavetes with Gena Rowlands playing the role of a fallen woman, anguished by her distressed life...

Untitled (Rolled up)
© » KADIST

Jonathan Monk

2003

Untitled (rolled up) , is an abstract portrait of Owen Monk, the artist’s father and features an aluminum ring of 56.6 cm in diameter measuring 1.77 cm in circumference, the size of his father...

Les Fleurs d’intérieur
© » KADIST

Danh Vo

2009

The work “Les Fleurs d’intérieur” (which gives its name to the exhibiton presented at Kadist Art Foundation from May 30 to July 13, 2009) is a brass plate engraved with the inventory list of the works included in the show...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

Acts of Appearance
© » KADIST

Gauri Gill

2015

Acts of Appearance is an ongoing series by Gauri Gill consisting of lush, large-scale color portraits of the residents of a village in Maharashtra, in Western India, which is known for making Adivasi masks...

Drought Mask
© » KADIST

Rajni Perera

2021

Drought Mask by Rajni Perera is a prototype that is suggestive of dire implications for human survival...

Untitled (Set of Six Drawings)
© » KADIST

Adrian Villar Rojas

2012

Based on historical prophecies and fantasy, the artist creates apocalyptic scenarios that posit an enigmatic world plagued by social, political, and environmental upheaval...

Masterpieces from the Barbier-Mueller African and Oceanic Art collection to be sold at Christie's in Paris
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Masterpieces from the Barbier-Mueller African and Oceanic Art collection to be sold at Christie's in Paris Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search African art news Masterpieces from the Barbier-Mueller African and Oceanic Art collection to be sold at Christie's in Paris The auction next month will include 100 pieces acquired by Josef Müller and his family Vincent Noce 6 February 2024 Share Twin Baulé mask (Nda), Côte d'ivoire Image: Christie's Ltd One hundred pieces from the prestigious Barbier-Mueller African and Oceanic Art Collection will be auctioned at Christie’s in Paris on 6 March...