G. Roland Biermann

"The idea of coming to an age of formal completion and orderly perfection remains central to the conceptual framework in science as it seeks to understand causality and processes, and ultimately promises to produce theories of irrefutable truths. This is precisely the anti-thesis of G. Roland Biermann's work.

Biermann's work depicts his ascetic rejection of the definite, the literal and the static. His enduring preoccupation is in fact to find a visual equivalent to the experiences of movement and mobility, in time and in space, and ultimately in society. A visual equivalent sophisticated enough to evoke the richness, and concurrently the blurriness of fact versus fiction, experienced in the "in-between" states, as they bridge two instances of coneptual means and lead to fundamental changes and transformations."

in: Myriam Blundell, metamorphosis, London 2010

snow+concrete is a series of vanitas images in the form of triptychs and polyptychs, transparent black&white photographs, printed on fused glass, a unique combination of ancient craftsmanship and 21st century technology. In this project, Biermann arranges snow in organic and geometric forms in an underground car park and photographs distinct phases of the melting process. The finished polyptychs are deliberately incomplete or unsystematic, in the sense that they challenge preconceived ideas of how a chain reaction of cause and consequence should be subject to an algorithm or systematic occurence. The melting process is supposed to follow a predefined pattern, determined by concentration and speed of deterioration, through the exposure to the atmospheric conditions of an underground car park. The succession of episodes is however at times presented in what seems to be an arbitrary or even reversed order, questioning the source, the process and ultimately the result and the destination at once.

In Ophelia Biermann takes a particular interest in exploring the contrapuntal relationship between beauty, transience and death, through a delicately crafted set of warholian photographic representations of plastic carrier bags floating in a sea of used engine oil. The resulting imags are beautiful and intricate compositions of figurative forms and vivid colours, cystallised by the camera in the form of portraits of a rather dark and threatening future.

G. Roland Biermann was born in Bonn, Germany. He studied at New York University and lives and works in London.

He is represented by Myriam Blundell_Projects. www.myriamblundell.com

Exhibitions:

2013 (November) snow+concrete / new works on glass, Goethe-Gallery, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong

2013 (October) Ophelia (solo), 12 Star Gallery, London

2013 (June) Ophelia (solo), curated by Marco Izzolino, White Room Capri, Capri

2012 snow+concrete / new works on glass, Bayerische Hofglasmalerei, Munich

2012 Objectified (group), curated by Roy Exley, Charlie Smith Gallery, London

2011 Ophelia (solo), Goethe-Institut Paris, Paris

2010 / 11 metamorphosis (solo) German Embassy London, London

2010 snow+concrete, curated by August Heuser, Dommuseum Frankfurt, Frankfurt

2009 Fault Line: Art in the Age of Anxiety (group), curated by Sarah Elson, Nunnery Gallery, London

2008 Fight Aids Monaco (group show and charity auction, by invitation of Princess Stephanie), Salon Mediterranee, Monte Carlo

2008 snow+concrete (solo), by invitation of Prof. David Jasper, Glasgow University, Glasgow

2007 Panorama (with Barbara Wolff), Galerie Villa Ruh, Zingst

2006 Apparitions (solo) Linhof-Galerie, Munich

2006 Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Ateliers SNCF (group), Arles

2005 Apparitions - The Triptychs (solo) Johanneskirche, Düsseldorf

2005 Apparitions - The Triptychs (solo) St. Mary Bow Church, London

2005 Photoespaña, Descubrimientos (group), Madrid

2003 Zauberei im Alltag (group), Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf

2001 8. Rohkunstbau (group), Schloss Gross Leuthen, Berlin-Brandenburg

2001 Dimension 4 (solo), kjubh Kunstverein, Cologne

2001 Wahrnehmung des Anderen (with Rosy Beyelschmidt and Carlo Ferraris), Galerie Fellner von Feldegg, Krefeld

2000 Du sollst nicht töten (with Jaschi Klein and Harold Koopmans), kjubh Kunstverein, Cologne

Grants:

2010 Think German, German Foreign Office, Berlin / London

2005 Arts Council England, London

2004 Goethe-Institut London, London

Residencies

2012 Bayerische Hofglasmalerei Gustav von Treeck, Munich

2009 Signy and Olaf Willums Art Foundation, Mas des Graviers, Provence

Competitions / Prizes / Awards

He is the winner of the 'Artist of the Month' competition (February 2008), a project by the German Embassy London. Biermann is the only artist in over 30 years to win the 'Weissblechkalender' project by ThyssenKrupp, a worldwide-unique, exclusive arts calendar printed on tinplate, twice (2007 and 2010).

Appointments:

2007 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh), Cologne

Biermann's works are included in national and international collections.