Bendix Harms: WHY ME?

The sixth exhibition by German artist Bendix Harms at Anton Kern Gallery presents twelve portrait paintings. The subjects range from Andy Warhol to Mike Tyson, from Mamon, the cat, to a self-portrait with blackbird. They are the result of the artist’s constant interrogation of the world. Why is at the beginning of every painting, and every why is given an appropriate response.

BENDIX HARMS PORTRAITS: WHY ME? 

The BIG WHY!
Each painting starts with this question: WHY?
A chosen subject works when it starts to send precise orders to my brain and to my right painterhand.... then the word WHY is vanishing into air within some seconds. This process depends on steel-like relationships – the foundation of all Contentism. 

Why Warhol?
Because he was able to become a human stamp while he was alive. 

Why DDR?
Because it impresses me again and again how such a stuffy and brutal east-German dictatorship could exist for 28 years. 

Why Richard Diebenkorn?
Because it was a big challenge to bring one of his finetuned colorfield-paintings to speak in a narrative way: Content meets Form. 

Why Mamon?
Because she impressed me with her one-term-language: MIAU! 

Why Mamon as a building?
Because her body has architectural-qualities. 

Why John Lennon together with Mamon?
Because Mamon, sent to me her 58th name during a morning-walk through the forest: Schoko Ono. 

Why a blue tit?
Because this bird with his steel-like backbone can bear a whole Nation. 

Why Mike Tyson?
Because the mix of his visual qualities and and his superior boxing skills is unique. 

Why Mamon and me?
Because I want to understand how Paw Peace can feel in NY. 

Why a blackbird and me?
Because it‘s new for me to hatch three eggs together with a Blackbird in a worldwide known bed. 

Why a shark?
Because this animal is able to eat a whole world. 

Why me?
Because it feels almost surreal to exist 57 years in peace.