Destruction, decay and forgetting are themes that Zimmermann addresses again and again. He knows that at some point, even the happy hours are nothing more than memories. When time passes inexorably, it is the thoughts that remain. Whether beautiful moments, loved ones or familiar places, everything is subordinate to the passing of time. Although they can be preserved as memories in a person’s mind, they only last for a short time. Gradually, they too fade. Holger Zimmermann’s works are a monument to the past. With his art, he invites us to take a mental journey into the past, but at the same time he makes the viewer aware that memories are not truths. In a distorted and embellished way, they are ultimately just subjective wishes and hopes.
The magazines from the 1950s are odes to consumption, to the exuberance and carefree spirit of the post-war years. When Holger Zimmermann assembles images from the catalogs and magazines into new collages, the ideal world suddenly seems threatening. Inspired by Pop Art and its representatives such as Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, Zimmermann’s paintings are dedicated to the decades surrounding the economic miracle and rock ‘n’ roll. Zimmermann depicts cheerful motifs such as vacation scenes, exuberant moments and social gatherings in a blurred, high-contrast and sometimes gloomy manner. The artist is not only committed to the themes and motifs of Pop Art, Zimmermann is also oriented towards the great artists of the consumer generation such as Warhol or Polke in terms of complexity and range. Zimmermann uses digital processes to take an even more radical approach to alienation.
Berlin
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Vernissage:
