Oftentimes, the face is the first feature one looks at in portraiture. For Evgen Čopi Gorišek, however, the Slovenian-born, Berlin-based artist bypasses the face entirely to focus more on the natural beauty of the human body. On view at KÖNIG GALERIE is a new solo exhibition which explores Gorišek’s fascination with the contours of the body, as well as his lifelong interest in Tennis.
Entitled MATCH POINT, Gorišek presents five large-scale works, his first two-panel painting, along with smaller studies all based on published images of tennis matches. Characteristic of his oeuvre, the artist purposefully distills his subjects’ face to comical smileys to strip away the face’s association with celebrity, and in effect, rid of the “mask” that hides one’s inner truth and emotions. This aesthetic choice is also meant to cast the painting back into the two-dimensional image that it was originally sourced from.
With roots in both tennis and graffiti, Gorišek’s fusion of airbrushing, oil stick and acrylic paint reimagines the athleticism behind the sport, where his ubiquitous smiley characters allow the viewer to insert themselves within the confines of the canvas. The exhibition is currently on view at KÖNIG GALERIE in Berlin until March 18.
Elsewhere, Gagosian has announced the global representation of Derrick Adams.
KÖNIG GALERIE
Alexandrinenstraße 118-121
10969 Berlin, Germany
