David Ilzhöfer
Close enough series
HIDDEN Bořivojova
7. 3. / 1. 5. 2023
The solo exhibition Meanwhile, when you least expect it... presents recent works by David Ilzhöfer, currently based in Munich. In his artistic practice, he experiments with paintings and sculptures as time-based media through which the viewers' cursory gaze would be kept in motion, expanding and pluralizing across figures, signs, layers, protrusions and reflections.
meanwhile, when you least expect it…
…a heavy landing on moist eyeballs…an intricate, ingenious detail entangles or ensnares its victim…something seems to throb in the veins…metal tendrils stray back to the edge of a pillow, curling up in fetal position…or supposedly so…darling, you smell like…hospital…an unwalled garden of open wounds…peppered with vital signs…are we bored already, my dear…a ladybug is laying her tiny, golden eggs under the leaves, near an aphid colony…curtains wind around corridors…coated with calming color then a thin layer of mucus…smoothed and prolonged...profound unconsciousness travels with gray caster wheels…free fall, along a thick, long-lasting contrail…less pretty, but just as predatory…the larvae leave trails of slime behind…overcome by springtime lethargy all of a sudden…rich, intense and full-bodied with get-well flowers…a persistent aftertaste, expressing elegance and identity…at least some of you say so…now, look at me, through the holes in my hands, put your faithless finger right here, into…into…first experience of peripheral vision...stay focus...barely able to track moving objects…dissolved titanium implants branch out…stay with me...hives and rashes split into lush green…rotation of the furry moon slows down…images come to the retina upside down…light reflects from previously veiled memories into the oppressed muscular canal, flashing back at saliva and sweat, bouncing off a semisolid mass of coagulated red and white blood cells…into…itchy desires…refracted rays, bent back too far…despite numerous scars and callused growth rings…the sentient flesh, creating a golden flow…a mouthful…one body part retreats from the other…the liquids froth and fizz when being suctioned from transparent cavities…you know what's going to happen next around here, don't you?...
- Jianling Zhang
We asked David what his life has been like at the academy.
Practical tipps for studying at Academy: Actually, people pee in the sink. Bruises come from not lifting canvas from knees. Crush will change daily, get a hold of yourself. Down with the system, everybody ecoanarchist here!
Eventually you will need none of the works you did last week.
Fast life (sadly, might not be what you are getting).
Grind...
Home is where you hang your hat.
If you get stuck at class meetings, quietly leave through the backdoor.
Keep a toothbrush in your locker.
Let water run after peeing in the sink.
Mc Donalds is changing to machines as cashier, so probably you will be out of work.
No, I can’t do that anymore.