Leo Gallery Artist Residency Programme Opening View - Displaying Works of Young German Artists Max Huckle & Martin Kähler

Leo Gallery
Jul 25, 2019 6:47AM

Please find more information of Leo Gallery's Artist Residency Programme at the end of this article. We are always ready to support.


Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

The first Opening Day of the Leo Gallery Artist Residency Programme was inaugurated in the Zhujiajiao Studio of Leo Gallery on June 30th, 2019.As the first phase of the Residency Programme, the two emerging artists from Germany, Max Huckle and Martin Kähler, participated in the Programme. During the one-month period, they created with their experiences and feelings in the local town of Zhujiajiao, unveiling their amazing creativity and resident achievements.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Max Huckle graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, and studied with Swiss artist Silvia Bächli. Earlier, he also cultivated a keen sense of colour and composition in his photography courses in the Netherlands and Germany.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Max Huckle takes painting as his main expression, and he is good at combining various media for creation. His works include paintings and installations. Max's works have been exhibited in various parts of Europe in the past few years. This is his third cooperation with Leo Galleryafter "Waiting For A Bus to Miss It" , his first exhibition in Asia in January 2019, and the group exhibition "Small is Beautiful VIII"in 2019.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Artist Martin Kähler was born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1987. He graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands, now lives and works in Milan and Frankfurt.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

This is the first time Martin cooperating with Leo Gallery. Martin has studied the art of installations for along time, focusing on the balance of space. He usually uses ready-made products and the waste materials taken from construction sites, finding the balance point of the relationship between material, matter, space and time.

This is the first time the two artists participated in an Artist Residency Programme outside Europe by working together. From the first second arriving at Zhujiajiao, they began to be fond of this comfortable and picturesque small village. Compared with the fast-paced life and work in the city, for them, time seems a bit slower here, and the people are warm, hospitable and curious.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

The arrival of Max and Martin also broke the traditional impression that "foreigners will not stay for more than a day or two"seen by the Zhujiajiao locals. The bustling streets and noises of Zhujiajiao have also been caught by the two artists and integrated into their art creation. On the first Opening Day of the Artist Residency Programme, a red banner with the words"I Have No Advice For You"also appeared as a part of their art project, which is their detailed capture and realistic response to the given situation of China now.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Meanwhile, the residency project also put the two artists in the same studio at the same time, making it possible for them to collaborate closely, and thus inspiring strong artistic sparks between them.

In the sculptures and paintings that they finished together, they constantly exchanged ideas, criticisms and motives. What’s more, they played badminton every day before they started or after they finished the work. This activity is regarded as a metaphor for their daily art creation: "We were not attacking each other, but trying to challenge. We kept the ball in the air, just like the ideas jumping back and forth. It was almost a daily mantra or ritual in our daily life, allowing us to release our stress, and bad or good ideas."

This Residency Programme also elaborates their creative ideas and working methods, just as the Olympic spirit they agree with: participation is everything, even if it fails.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View Artists: Max Huckle & Martin Kähler

"I’m afraid of painting large paintings…"

Considering this quote of Max during our residency in Shanghai, the fruits of his work incubated for three weeks within the hot humid climate between factories and construction workers, grew in size and quantity.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Except for some small interventions Max only worked on big scale paintings - the largest is around 5 meters in height.

The flowers and plants Max was mostly planting (painting) grew fast in the huge studio and turned it into a hydrophonic plantation of flowers. countless canvases were the soil for ever new creations and arrangements that from one day to the other could disappear and rot away.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Looking at max painting reminds me how much his practice is connected to cut the grass in the garden or weed out the Hortus. You need to be patient and have endurance to see your plants grow.

Luckily Max has no patience when it comes to painting: embedded in his art, he lets the puppy flowers grow and foul within one hour. If he is lucky he catches this one small plant which takes his attention right before it blooms, he takes it aside to see how beautifully it grew over the time, right before he cuts it apart and to crossbreed it with the next prototype.

Its a steep path he takes everything needs to be in order and balanced to get to the point where his „gardening“ makes sense - if it ever does.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Sometimes, maybe the strong part lies within its nonsenseness. Painting poppy flower fields in the dark, barley visible to the spectator standing right in front of the two huge canvases. But with every step you take further away, this chaotic arrangement turns it to a mildly swinging field of flowers.

Painting big to counter the fear which seemed so big, if you have it right in front of you - but take some time and change the perspective and you will see that the feeling of being lost will slowly vanish.

A romantic thought that I try to keep in mind while max is struggling keeping his plants alive.

Max calls me over, he is happy I can see. the next hour we spend looking at a dead and moldy looking 4 meter long plant. This doesn’t need sense!

Letting go from the so called certainties.

Try and error, try, error, end. Fragile fragments floating to the ground,Steel feather.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

For me Martins work is an act of meditation, awareness, material, function follows form - he follows the material, swimming infinite oily rivers of possibilities.

Use your hands, plaster drying out, carry the debris through the space. Dusty applause echoing.

The shiny parts reflect the neonlight, the arrangement on the wall is oh so quiet, three hours earlier the sledgehammer hit the surfaces.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

The floor covered in purple dust. Fingerprints everywhere, footprints.Traces, Martin was here.

Doing is learning / understanding, balance is bliss -Sprezzatura, the Trojan Horse.

On European streets I know what catches martins attraction, the leftovers, the remains. proof of human action, nature reclaiming its place. Chinese soil seems to trigger different awareness,the old Mistress braiding baskets, fish stored in styrofoam.

Leo Gallery Artist Residence First Opening Day View

Creepy crawlers try to enter the studio by night, mosquitos chasing ultraviolet light.

Work for the sake of working,play for the sake of playing, be there for the sake of being there.

It’s hard to say where martins work actually stops, one work seamlessly blends into the next.

Real lines turn into thought lines, interlinked - Intersection, East Nanjing Road.

Leo Gallery’s Artist Residency Programme

Supporting and encouraging emerging artists is the consistent aim of Leo Gallery, which is also the goal of launching this resident art project. As an international art centre based in China and Asia, Shanghai has a constantly booming art environment and sparking many inspirations. We hope to invite more domestic and international artists to participate in this project, sharing different insights and creating artist vitality.

The first Opening Day of Leo Gallery’s Artist Residency Programme also means that this project has been successfully launched. The project plans to invite domestic/international artists to Shanghai’s picturesque town Zhujiajiao, to create their work in locality, and to promote communication between them and the local artists, art institutions and residents.

Leo Gallery’s Artist Residency Programme sets up the collaborative platform for artists, art schools, and art institutions. Joining hands with Art Academy London, we have established "The Leo Gallery Shanghai Residency Prize" which aims at inspiring the outstanding graduates of Art Academy London every year.

Leo Gallery’s Artist Residency Programme provide the artists with:

1. Flexible and sufficient time of residency. Artists can choose the residence periods of three weeks, one month, two months or three months. Leo Gallery Shanghai provides the studio in Zhu Jiajiao.

2. Basic art facilities and encourages the artists to create freely.

3. A comfortable and cozy living environment, and enjoyable living facilities.

4. Opening Days are held by Leo Gallery after completion of the Programme, exhibiting the artistic achievements and creating the communication opportunities with the audiences.

Application requirements:

1. Have enough time to stay in Shanghai.

2. Create the works independently, and have the ability to adapt to different living environments.

For Registration:

Please email the following documents (with title "Registration for the Leo Gallery Artist Residency Programme - Your Name" ) to: [email protected]

1. Cover Letter with the Plan of the Residency Programme.

2. CV and Personal Introduction (please include detailed contact information).

3. No more than 20 representative works, with images and the texts in a PDF document (no more than 20M).

4. Other references.

*All interpretation, right of final explanation belongs to Leo Gallery

Leo Gallery