"Everybody should be able to buy art"

PROVINZ c/o Kunsthalle Recklinghausen

November 13, 2016 - February 5, 2017

Editions of works of art, today known as editions, make the works of well-known artists affordable. Albrecht Dürer sold his wood engravings and copperplate engravings throughout Europe with great success and Lucas Cranach the Elder illustrated the pamphlets of his friend Martin Luther with his copperplate portrait around 1517. In doing so, he not only contributed to Luther's rapidly growing popularity, but also made his art known to a broad public. Prints are still the most common type of art edition today.

Since the 1960s and the increasing importance of object and installation art, so-called multiples or editioned objects have also been published. ‘We were concerned with the democratisation of the art market and the de-heroisation of the artistic genius,’ wrote Klaus Staeck, who is considered one of the fathers of contemporary edition art with his edition founded in 1965. ‘Even art lovers on a budget should be able to acquire high-quality works ... at reasonable prices.’ This idea of democratisation was one reason why artists in the second half of the 20th century increasingly opted for printmaking techniques and used photographic templates, such as images from newspapers and television. Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol paved the way for the new genre, which also conquered Europe and caused a sensation, particularly in the form of screen printing, for example in the work of Sigmar Polke, Richard Hamilton and Thomas Bayrle. Gerhard Richter established offset printing. They all picked up on social developments in their pictorial themes, dealing with them in an ironically affirmative way or expressing themselves critically and taking a political stance.

PROVINZ Editionen Bochum/Berlin, since 2014 a joint project by Vera Gliem (Berlin) and Stephan Strsembski, who founded the edition publishing house in Bochum in 2011, follows on from this: they produce and distribute original prints, editions and multiples by outstanding contemporary artists. Their editions can be found in numerous international private collections and museums, such as the Lenbachhaus Munich, the SMAK Ghent, the Israel Museum Jerusalem and the MoMA New York. The PROVINZ concept includes Germany-wide exhibition projects in co-operation with public and private institutions. The Recklinghausen exhibition is the first to present all the works that have been published to date. The artists include Stefan Kern (1995), Kalin Lindena (2005), Michael Sailstorfer (2009), Florian Meisenberg (2013) and Jan Paul Evers (2015), five winners of the ‘junge westen’ art prize, which has been awarded by the city of Recklinghausen since 1948.

An exhibition with works of: Kai Althoff, Shannon Bool, Lutz Braun, Walter Dahn, Katja Davar, Achim Duchow, Jan Paul Evers, Robert Elfgen, Andreas Fischer, Albrecht Fuchs, Gesine Grundmann, Nschotschi Haslinger, Andy Hope 1930, Judith Hopf, Julia Hübner, Sven-Åke Johansson, Anne Kaminsky, Stefan Kern, Armin Krämer, Svenja Kreh, Kalin Lindena, Daniel Laufer, Hans-Jörg Mayer, Florian Meisenberg, Alex Müller, Simona Pries, Maik Prus, Thomas Rentmeister, Bernd Ribbeck, Matthieu Ronsse, Michael Sailstorfer, Gerda Scheepers, Max Schulze, Ralph Schuster, Hartwig Schwarz, Henning Strassburger, Joseph Zehrer u. a.