INSTINCTIVE GESTURES

‘True to his belief that instinctive gestures afforded infinite possibilities for visual expression, [Hans Hartung] went on to explore new techniques for applying paint – striking the canvas violently, for example, with brushes made of branches, or using spray guns with which to trace in magnified form the whiplash movements of his wrists. His comment, “What I like is to be in action on the canvas,” became fully justified in the second phase of his career.’

Jennifer Mundy, 1996


Galerie Max Hetzler, London, is pleased to present the group exhibition Instinctive Gestures. Featuring a late painting by Hans Hartung alongside recent works by Ida Ekblad, Jeff Elrod, Katharina Grosse and Mark Grotjahn, the exhibition takes Hartung’s gestural mark-making as its thematic focal point.

Executed in the last year of his life, Hans Hartung’s (1904–1989) painting T1989-E29, 1989, presents a deep and brooding canvas interrupted with sporadic bursts of dazzling light. Despite being confined to a wheelchair in his later years, the artist was greatly productive in the final phase of his career. Rendered using alternative tools such as the industrial sulfateuse, an adjustable and light-weight paint-spraying device, Hartung’s painting is instilled with the sweeping motions, dappled radiance and textured surfaces that encapsulate his mature practice.

Initiating a dialogue with subsequent generations of artists seeking to push boundaries in the present day, Instinctive Gestures celebrates Hartung’s prevailing legacy. In Katharina Grosse’s (b. 1961) Untitled studio painting from 2023, loops of bold colour float, almost three- dimensionally, over a white ground. Composed freehand using her quintessential spraying technique in a limited palette of six unmixed hues, the colours intertwine like loose strands of thread.

Mark Grotjahn’s (b. 1968) Untitled (Capri 55.42), 2023, offers another dynamic explosion of colour and form. Rendered in the artist’s signature medium of oil on cardboard, the surface effervesces with gestural sweeps of impasto paint, smeared at times with a palette knife or directly from the tube.

A sense of energetic spontaneity prevails in Ida Ekblad’s (b. 1980) vibrant triptych, O’ER THE FIELDS AGAIN, 2023. Vivid, punchy and richly textured, the work offers a push and pull between abstraction and figuration, as blooming fields of flowers dissolve into bright, geometric forms.

In his 2020 painting American Gothic, Jeff Elrod (b. 1966) employs manipulated inkjet prints on linen, creating layers of fading abstract forms and glitches that reflect the eerie nether-space of their screen origins. Ink-rich and ghostly, the composition challenges the unique relationship between art and technology in the present day.

Treading the line between spontaneity and precision, intentionality and chance, consideration and intuition, the exhibited artists each experiment with modes of gesture and materiality across their diverse practices, harnessing process, raw energy and unbridled innovation.


Ida Ekblad (*1980, Oslo) lives and works in Oslo. In recent years, Ekblad’s work has been the subject of institutional exhibitions at KODE Art Museum, Bergen (2023); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2021); Kunsthalle Zürich; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Jardin des Tuileries, Paris (all 2019); Kunstverein Braunschweig (2018); Kunsthas Hamburg (2017); The National Museum of Norway, Oslo; and Kunstmuseum Luzern (both 2013). The artist participated in the Venice Biennale in 2017 and 2011. Her work is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and The National Museum of Norway, Oslo, among others,

Jeff Elrod (*1966, Dallas, Texas) lives and works in Marfa, Texas and Brooklyn, New York. Elrod’s work has been exhibited in institutions worldwide including Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2020); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2015); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2014); MoMA Ps1, New York (2013); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2009); Whitney Museum of American Art New York; and The Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art (both 2001). His work is in the collections of Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Menil Collection, Houston; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.

Katharina Grosse (*1961, Freiburg im Breisgau) lives and works in Berlin and New Zealand. In recent years, Grosse’s work has been the subject of institutional exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Bonn (2024); Albertina, Vienna; Kunstmuseum Bern (both 2023); Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Espace Louis Vuitton, Venice (all 2022); HAM Helsinki Art Museum (2021); Baltimore Museum of Art; Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (both 2020); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2019, duo show); National Gallery Prague; chi K11 art museum, Shanghai (both 2018); South London Gallery (2017); Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden; and MoMA Ps1, New York (both 2016). The artist participated in the Venice Biennale in 2015. Her work is in the collections of Albertina, Vienna; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich; Kunstmuseum Bern; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.

Mark Grotjahn (*1968, Pasadena, California) lives and works in Los Angeles. Grotjahn’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2018); Casa Malaparte, Capri (2016); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; Kunstverein Freiburg (both 2014); Aspen Art Museum (2012); Portland Art Museum (2010); Kunstmuseum Thun (2007); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2006); and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2005). Grotjahn’s works are in the collections of The Broad, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; LACMA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.

Hans Hartung (1904–1989) was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1904 and died in 1989 in Antibes, France. In recent years, Hartung’s work has been the subject of institutional exhibitions at the Fondation Hartung-Bergman, Antibes (2023); Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2019); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2018); Museum of Contemporary Art, Siegen (2016); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2014); Roma Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Palazzo Polo, Rome (2013); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Cannes; and Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva (both 2011). His work is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Courtauld Gallery, London; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Tate, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others.


Press contact:

Stephanie Garcia
Sales Associate
london@maxhetzler.com 
+44 20 7629 7733

www.facebook.com/galeriemaxhetzler 
www.instagram.com/galeriemaxhetzler