During an artist’s residency in Hanoi (Vietnam) in 2014, Benjamin Badock visited the production sites of multinational enterprises. He was particularly fascinated by the direct juxtaposition of order and chaos in the local sweatshops: on the one hand, the glossy products of the global economy; on the other hand, in contrast, the harm and damage this kind of production inflicts on both man and the environment. Badock’s works are the direct visual result of his exploration of themes such as order and structure, accumulation, excess and chaos.
Benjamin Badock’s artistic technique represents a bridge to his thematic investigations as well. In his current works – all of them relief prints, material prints, monotypes or woodcuts – he not only demonstrates his wide-reaching artistic expertise, but also makes use of the so-called “production remnants” of his prints. The liberal handling of his materials enables Badock to rid the classical relief print techniques, including woodcuts or linocut prints, of their cumbersome nature. Whereas printing techniques are, to a large extent, traditionally based on careful planning and technical precision, chance and a painterly approach significantly determine Badock’s work.
Over the past years, Benjamin Badock has received numerous prestigious awards for his artistic work and, in particular, for his unconventional and investigative application of different printing techniques. Badock was nominated for the renowned Norwegian Queen Sonja Print Award in 2016, and the Villa Massimo Jury selected him as recipient for a federal grant in the Cité des Arts, Paris, which will commence in May 2017. He received the Sprengel Prize in 2014 in combination with a solo exhibition at the Sprengel Museum Hanover.

OPENING: 16 MARCH 2017, 7 P.M.

mpefm GERMANY art press release