Rebellion in the Living Room by Tim Ackermann of Artnet (translated from the German)

Where have the good things gone that make the American living room so different, so attractive? In the time of Pop Art, a sentence like “From our living room to yours” still promised technical progress and un-bridaled consumer joy. Today the sentence has earned itself the role of exhibition title in the Berlin gallery Goff+Rosenthal. Six contemporary artists from New York, none of which are represented by the gallery, send warm regards from their living rooms, in addition to the statement; this exhibition is not tea time/ coffee talk.

Except for the cakes! At first glance, they appear very nicely frosted. In actuality, the mustard colored icing on Trong Nguyen’s birthday cake is made of modeled oil paint. Even the red greeting written on the cake by the Vietnam-born artist, “Happy Birthday War,” tastes bitter,. The un-enjoyable/ un-edible treat in the colors of his homeland, alludes to the invasion of Viet Nam by the Americans 40 years earlier. Nguyen’s memorial cake was sold before the exhibition opened. The New York Times has already acknowledged the conceptual artist and his socially critical pieces, like when he gave the public phrases from George W. Bush as messages in Chinese fortune cookies. Nguyen’s skeptic attitude regarding the “land of the free” and its national myths ties him to the other artists in the exhibition, who were chosen by the independent New York curator Daria Brit Shapiro.

Land of the free, home of the brave. These stories, which are so consistently fluffed by the mass media’s filter are the subject of scrutiny by the German-born artist Bill Lohre, who now also lives in New York. His gun rack, with doubled, winking “star spangled banners” was meticulously made from cardboard. He illustrates the history of American’s infatuation with weapons, from the colt to the ultra modern machine gun. On the other hand, these junk cardboard rifles are the expression of a joyful utopia. In addition, Lohre altered the official residence of the president, also out of paper and with rockets and surveillance cameras from old lollypop sticks. A mockery of the White House. Also not an everyday sight in American art. But a reaction to 9/11 and the two opposing developing factions, which spawned the terror attack in the USA is that the politics of the US government have become more repressive. In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of artists living in American metropolises, who are making politically or socially critical art.

In this sense, Goff+Rosenthal, the first New York gallery to open a space in Berlin, has brought a consistent version of the actual “American Way of Life” to the Spree (a river in Berlin, FYI). With the words “Fear, disillusionment and anger, which are sometimes hidden behind irony,” describes Daria Brit Shapiro the show’s atmosphere. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that our country is engaged in a war that it appears no one wants. And our president continues to steer us into more and more dangerous waters. It is really frustrating.” A frustration invoked by relatively concrete artwork, like Jeremy Earhart’s Smoke and Mirrors. The wall sculpture made of plexi- glass shoes an open book, above which a silhouette of a smoke cloud or an atomic bomb mushroom cloud rises. The pages of the book are blank. It could be any dogmatic text, from the Bible, the Koran, or Capitalism.

In another way, George Boorujy exposes conflicting feelings about his homeland. In fact, at first glance his light and sun drenched watercolored landscapes appear archaic. At second glance, however, an ecological dilemma becomes clear. The river’s water level is threateningly low and shabby huts of a slum community brace themselves in the rock walls of the canyon. Boorujy’s bright paper works contrast only in their palette to the darker vision of Jon Elliott. This artist paints nightmarish landscapes from glossy oil polymer. In The Throne the viewer sees the outline of televisions and computers, which have accumulated to form a mountain of waste. In their screens, the artist mounted photos of American GIs, large automobiles and blond women. Elliott represents the ultimate destruction of the American pop culture mythos. While Andy Warhol’s Marilyn was allowed to be “larger than life,” Jon Elliott’s Pamela Anderson is just a little blonde speck in an oily, black mass. Here emerges the skepticism of the artist, who has lost his belief in the cultural dominance of his country.

Will Goff+Rosenthal become the Flagship of this new American art tendency in Berlin? The director of the Berlin gallery, Caroline Stummel, does not completely agree, “Our program is colorfully eclectic,” she says, “We represent artists from America, as well as from Europe and Australia.” In spite of this and because of “From our living room to yours”, the gallery will continue to be considered more and more as a window/gateway to New York City- as a platform for the emerging art scene of urban America. This is the first time the six artists in the “Living Room” exhibition have been shown in Germany.

Actually the American skepticism has come across interest and, despite almost no known names, “From our living room to yours” has found its audience. Caroline Stummel estimates that about 50% more visitors have come to this show, than to the gallery’s last exhibition. Three works are already reserved by collectors. The next American group show is already being planned, which should take place in early 2008.