MIKE STEINER I AUGENFUTTER BILDFRESSER
23.06. – 29.10.2023
Mike Steiner, 2005 in his Berlin studio
(Photo: Jan Sobottka)
Mike Steiner
Mike Steiner
(1941 -2012)
Mike Steiner was a true visionary who helped to shape the course of contemporary art. He was a producer, gallerist, promoter, mediator, collector, expert, pioneer, and visionary. He never worked with just one medium, and it was this interdisciplinary understanding that made him one of the most exciting artists of his time.
As a producer and cameraman of some of the most important works of video art, such as Marina Abramovic’s performance “Freeing the Body” and “Irritation – There is a Criminal Touch to Art” with Ulay, Steiner is one of the most interesting key figures of the art scene of the 1970s and 80s.
Born in Allenstein, Germany, in 1941, the young Steiner quickly became known in the national art world as a talent of informal painting, exhibiting with renowned artist colleagues such as Lüpertz, Baselitz, and Hödicke.
Then he moved to America and returned heavily impressed by the experimental New York avant-garde. As painting no longer offered the progressive Steiner any new means of expression, he discovered video art at the beginning of the 1970s, which was then still little known.
Visionary, he throws himself into the challenge and begins to translate painterly conventions into the new medium.
In his Painted Tapes he experiments with image sharpness and movement, sometimes underlies spherical sounds, sometimes highway noises and wants to set a pause, reflection, concentration against the noisy sensuality reproduction of television with his video art.
In doing so, he creates a new aesthetics of seeing, which he then transfers from video back to painting: the beginning of his “Tape to Paint” creative phase, from which some pictures can be seen in the exhibition.
With color as his most important means of expression, he creates the extraordinary works according to the guiding principle: “From abstract principles, coding intimacy”.
It is STEINER’s urge for experimental innovation that is at the heart of the exhibition “EYEFOOD PICTURE EATER – from tape to paint”: from square colored wooden panels to the work cycle “The test image as a ready-made”, a tribute to the well-known television test image, to photographs and selected video art works, the art of the impressive border crosser is revealed.
MIKE STEINER was many things; in this exhibition he is: eye candy picture eater.
By Sonja Gatterwe
Exhibition:
23.06. – 29.10.2023
Opening hours:
Do – Sa 14 – 18 Uhr oder nach Vereinbarung
AVAILABLE WORKS OF THE CURRENT EXHIBITION
Testbild als Readymade (1984)
Testbild als Readymade (1984)
Artist:MIKE STEINER
Technique: Photo - Cibachrome on aluminium
Size: 120 x 160 x 0,3 cm
Year: 1984
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
Mike Steiner – Remember Barnett Newman / Luminosity
Mike Steiner – Remember Barnett Newman / Luminosity
Technique: Cibachrome on aluminium Cat. "Coloured Works" 1999, p. 207 f.
Size: 120 x 160 cm
Year: 1998
Status:available
Mike Steiner – LICHT bilden
Mike Steiner – LICHT bilden
Technique: Cibachrome on aluminium Cat. "Color Works", 1999, p. 207 f.
Size: 120 x 120 cm
Year: 1999
Photo: S. 207 f.
Status:available
Mike Steiner – Conegliano
Mike Steiner – Conegliano
Artist:Mike Steiner
Technique: Mixed media on wood
Size: 90 x 90 cm
Year: 2002
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
O.T. (2002)
O.T. (2002)
Technique: Mixed media on wood
Size: 90 x 90 x 0,7 cm
Year: 2002
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
O.T. (1995)
O.T. (1995)
Technique: Mixed media on wood
Size: 93 x 93 x 2 cm
Year: 1995
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
Frost 3 (1997)
Frost 3 (1997)
Technique: Mixed media on wood
Size: 90 x 90 x 2 cm
Year: 1997
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
O.T. – Testbildzyklus (1993)
O.T. – Testbildzyklus (1993)
Technique: Photo - Cibachrome on aluminium
Size: 120 x 160 x 0,3 cm
Year: 1993
Photo: Johannes Funker, Leipzig
Status:available
Biography
Mike Steiner (1941-2012) was born in Allenstein, Germany, in 1941. He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts and began painting in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he discovered video art and became one of the most important pioneers of this medium. He produced and directed numerous important video works, including “Freeing the Body” (1976) with Marina Abramović and “Irritation – There is a Criminal Touch to Art” (1976) with Ulay.
Steiner was sent to New York for two years in 1965. During his stay in the United States, he was deeply impressed by the experimental New York art scene (Minimal Art, Happening, Performance, Experimental Film). This led him to focus on video art in the early 1970s. Steiner became one of the most important artists in this field in the 1970s and 1980s. He worked with numerous renowned artists, including Joseph Beuys, Marina Abramović and Ulay.
In 1976, Steiner founded the Studiogalerie Berlin, which became an important meeting place for the international art scene. The gallery was an important location for the development of video art and shaped the Berlin art scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Steiner died in Berlin in 2012. He left behind a significant legacy that will continue to inspire the art world.
MIKE STEINER WAS MANY THINGS; IN THIS EXHIBITION, HE IS: EYE FOOD, IMAGE EATER
By Sonja Gatterwe
Exhibitions (selection)
1959, 1963–1965: Ausstellungshallen am Funkturm, Berlin: Große Berliner Kunstausstellung
1960: Rathaus Kreuzberg, Berlin: Kreuzberger Künstlergruppen
1962: Ausstellungshallen am Funkturm, Berlin, Juryfreie Kunstausstellung Berlin
1962: Rathaus Kreuzberg, Berlin: Grafik 62
1963: VHS Galerie, Volkshochschule Velbert: Claus-Michel Steiner. Aquarelle, Gouachen&Ölbilder (Einzelausstellung)
1963: Stadthalle Wolfsburg: Junge Stadt sieht junge Kunst
1964: Blue Note Gallery, Berlin: Claus-Michel Steiner (Einzelausstellung)
1967: Genf, Mailand, Paris: Jeunes Peintres de Berlin
1968: Schloß Morsbroich, Städtisches Museum Leverkusen; Schloß Wolfsburg, Kunstverein Wolfsburg e.V.:
Ornamentale Tendenzen in der zeitgenössischen Malerei
1968: Gartenterrasse, Europa-Center, Galerie Hammer, Berlin: Berliner Bauwochen `68. Kunst im Stadtbild
1971: Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Junge Kunst 1971 Baden-Baden. Gruppenarbeiten
1971, 1973: Ausstellungshallen am Funkturm, Berlin: Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung 1971
1975: Galerie sec., Berlin: Mike Steiner: Neue Arbeite + Video (Einzelausstellung)
1981: Kunst am Bau – TUB (Technische Universität Berlin)
1984: Kleine Orangerie im Schloß Charlottenburg, Berlin; 4. Sommerausstellung des Kunstamts Charlottenburg:
Vilm Collage Installation (Einzelausstellung)
1985: Echnaton-Galerie, Kairo: Charlottenburger Künstler in Ägypten
1985: Förtsch Galerie, Berlin: Ägypten Tapes – Vilm/Tesafilm
1986: Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
1945 – 1985 – Kunst in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
1987: Warschau: ETC. International Seminar on the Arts
1988: Seoul, Korea (Einzelausstellung)
1989: Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin: Momente des Lichts. 163 Jahre Fotografie
1990: Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit und Soziales, Technologie- und Innovationspark Berlin:
Malerei – Grafik und Installationen. 40 Jahre Künstlerförderung
1990: A&O Galerie, Berlin: Mike Steiner: polastrips (Einzelausstellung)
1991: Galerie Neue Räume H.A. Springfeld, Berlin: Stilles Fenster/Fensterinstallationen (Einzelausstellung)
1994: Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin: Steiner Art Tapes (Einzelausstellung)
1997: Gasometer, Oberhausen: Der Traum vom Sehen
1999: Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
COLOR WORKS 1995 – 1998 (Einzelausstellung)
2001: Galerie Dittmar, Berlin: Mike Steiner (Einzelausstellung)
2002: J.J. Brookings Gallery, San Francisco: Mike Steiner. Paintings (Einzelausstellung)
2002: Kulturforum Alte Schwimmhalle, 32. Sommerausstellung des Schloss Plön: Wege zur Abstraktion I
2004: Galerie Dittmar, Berlin: Form, Farbe, Fläche (Einzelausstellung); Mike Steiner. Neue Bilder (Einzelausstellung)
2005: Radkunst Galerie, Berlin: Mike Steiner. Bilder aus zehn Jahren (Einzelausstellung)
2006: Berliner Galeriestandorten von Finearts con.tra (La Dengalerie Mitte und Salongalerie Charlottenburg):
Mike Steiner – Zufälligkeiten, Malerei (Einzelausstellung)
2011/12: Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
Live to Tape. Die Sammlung Mike Steiner im Hamburger Bahnhof (Einzelausstellung)
2013: DNA Galerie, Berlin: Mike Steiner (Einzelausstellung)
2014: DNA Galerie, Berlin: Forever!
2015: DNA Galerie, Berlin: SHOOT: About Performance
2015: Altes Postfuhramt West, Berlin: Macrocosmi – Ordnungen anderer Art
2015: Werkstattgalerie, Berlin: Transitions
2017: Daimler Contemporary Berlin: Serielle Formationen. 1967/2017.
Re-Inszenierung der ersten deutschen Ausstellung internationaler minimalistischer Tendenzen
