Jan Dibbets and Bernhard Hildebrandt: Reconsidering Perspective

Barbara Mathes Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works through the ADAA Online Viewing Rooms, Jan Dibbets and Bernhard Hildebrandt: Reconsidering Perspective, which will run from October 5 to November 30, 2020. Both artists explore art, architecture, and classical imagery, yet capture their essence in a unique and unconventional manner which transforms the perspective of timeless pieces to create contemporary commentaries.

Jan Dibbets (b. 1941) is a Dutch artist influenced by mathematics. He began his professional career creating monochrome paintings influenced by Mondrian and Vermeer, before converting to conceptual photography. His photographs eliminate the original context of the image, encouraging the viewer to adjust to the new perspective and juxtaposition Dibbets intentionally constructs. In Orvieto (1989), for example, Dibbets photographed a transept rose window from the city’s 13^th century Duomo. The obscure angle in conjunction with the circular imagery surrounding the photograph calls attention to its geometry and symmetry. The darkened background renders the image both abstract and real.

Bernhard Hildebrandt (b. 1959) is an American artist who explores the relationship between painting and photography, abstraction and narrative, and the nature of vision and technology. His sources include Venetian cityscapes, mythological scenes, and classical portraits. His material, including works by painters such as Canaletto, Tiepolo, and Titian, epitomizes Renaissance and Baroque art. Hildebrandt’s work both amplifies the original image and disrupts the tradition of classical artwork. In his Piazza San Marco, Venice (2018), for example, he uses one of Canaletto’s celebrated views of the square from 1742-1744. In subjecting the painting to such an intense vertical blur that it becomes a linear near-abstraction, Hildebrandt destabilizes the cliché of ‘beautiful Venetian cityscapes,’ inviting us to look anew at recognizable historical images.

The works presented by Dibbets and Hildebrandt provide an escape from classical art historical constraints, using perspective and recontextualization as tools to transform the familiar into the contemporary.

Contact Information:

Barbara Mathes Gallery is located at 22 East 80^th Street. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday by appointment. For more information or images, please contact the gallery at 212-570-4190 or art@barbaramathesgallery.com