Martin Denker

b 1976 Hamburg, Germany. Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.

ARTIST STATEMENT

In my pictorial endeavours, I am concerned with the relationship between chaos and order.

The human eye favours order, while our thoughts tend to be chaotic: my former works were large format panoramas consisting of countless fragments of incoherent information -in its “all over”-arrangement forming a universal order out of the chaos of pictorial narrative by consideration: the rules of aestheticism slowly built up the order during months of arranging one particular work.

Over time I became more interested in reduction and the decisive moment in photography again: I use a mechanical device from chaos-research to track down chaotic behaviour within seconds while the aperture is open. The rules of gravity force chaos into order and a mechanical apparatus can take actions i.e. “make choices” (!) it seems. Choices are reactions to the universal gravities. They are unique and impossible to calculate by mathematics. This simple device disproves Isaac Newton and could be seen as physical proof of a creative force formerly known as divinity.

 

Vita

  • Education
  • 1996 – 2000 Fine Arts with Prof. Ulrich Puritz - Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University - Greifswald - DE
  • 2000 – 2001 Painting with Prof. Roxy McCloskey and Charles Field and Photography with Prof. Ronald C. Binks, Prof. Neil Maurer - UTSA - San Antonio - USA
  • 2001 – 2006 Fine Art Photography with Prof. Thomas Ruff - Art Academy Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2002 – 2006 Assistant to Andreas Gursky
  • 2006 Master-student of Thomas Ruff
  • Solo Exhibitions
  • 2010 WesternPlastic - Kunstverein Kjubh - Cologne - DE
  • 2010 MindGames - Statoil Art Program - Trondheim - NO
  • 2010 Martin Denker - Richard Levy Gallery - Albuquerque - USA
  • 2010 MindGames - Statoil Art Program - Oslo - NO
  • 2009 Absolute Zero - Bruce Silverstein Gallery - New York - USA
  • 2008 Martin Denker - Mältinranta Artcenter - Tampere - FI
  • 2008 LuxPerpetua3008 - Galerie Michael Haas - Berlin - DE
  • 2008 CitizenOfThePlanet - M+B Gallery - Los Angeles - USA
  • 2007 Cou Cook’s Eye -  Galerie Hafenrichter & Flügel - Nuremberg - DE
  • 2007 j-pix vs. mpegs - Torch Gallery - Amsterdam - NL
  • 2005 Realität de Luxe - Galerie Hafenrichter & Flügel - Nuremberg - DE
  • 2005 Paranoia Royal - Galerie Burkhard Eikelmann - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2004  In Human Beings Sex Is Optional - Blue Star Contemporary Art Center - San Antonio - USA
  • Group Exhibitions 
  • 2019 Coming Face to Face - Yuanart Collection - Luzern - CH
  • 2018 26 Contemporary Artists - Epicenter - Stockholm - SE
  • 2018 Questioning Photography Now - GCA (Galaxy Museum of Contemporary Art) - Chongqing - CN 
  • 2017 30 Contemporary Artists - Berlin Gallery Weekend - Berlin - DE
  • 2017 Yuanart Collection Show - Lucerne - CH
  • 2016 50 Contemporary Artists by Enter Art Foundation – Orenstein & Koppel Lofts – Berlin – DE
  • 2016 Nullsummenspiel - Düsseldorf Photoweekend - MerckFinck - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2015 Dear Dave - Foley Gallery - New York - USA
  • 2014 5th International Contemporary Art Festival - ARTBAT FEST - Almaty - KZ
  • 2014 Werkhallen Reloaded - Werkhallen / Obermann, Burkhard, Oberwinter - DE
  • 2014 Vielfalt statt Einfalt - Villa Zanders - Bergisch Gladbach - DE
  • 2013 1986 - 2013 / An Artist Collecting Art - Vestfossen Museet - NO
  • 2013 VielZuViel - Galerie Baum auf dem Hügel - Berlin - DE
  • 2013 Goodbye Paradise - Landschaft nach 2000 - Kunsthalle Osnabrück - DE
  • 2012 State Of The Art Photography - NRW Forum - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2012 Initiative for Christoph Schlingensief’s Operndorf Afrika - Hamburger Bahnhof - Berlin - DE
  • 2011 Highspeed Insanity - PUG / Blomqvist Art Center - Oslo - NO
  • 2011 Remix: Old And New Acquisitions From The Permanent Collection - Cornell Fine Arts Museum - Orlando - USA
  • 2010 - Stockwerk Zwölf - Fotografie der Kunstakademie - Vertical Gallery/Quadriennale - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2010 Medialisation - Open Space - Art Moscow - RU
  • 2009 New Art from Düsseldorf - Cube Art Museum - Beijing - CN
  • 2009 The Unforgettable Fire. 25 years Torch Gallery - Kunsthal Rotterdam - NL
  • 2008 Travaux personnels de sept anciens élèves de Thomas Ruff - Musée La Filature - Mulhouse - FR
  • 2008 Andererseits III - Kunstverein Malkasten - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2008 Early Bird - Kunstverein Dorsten - DE
  • 2007  Nach dem Sputnik -  KIT Museum - Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2007 ohne Titel - Silvertomato - Brussels - BE
  • 2007 ohne Titel - Irrek FineArts - Düsseldorf - DE
  • Awards and Grants
  • 2018  Travel Grant China (Chongqing) - State NRW - DE
  • 2008  Travel Grant Finland - City of Düsseldorf - DE
  • 2006 Representative of Germany - European Month of Photography - Fotogalerie Wien - Vienna - AT
 

To: Martin Denker

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Works by Martin Denker