Monkeys and Saints
by Anna Krenz

Myymälä2 Gallery 5.7 – 20.7

Opening 5.7 with a live concert by The Curators

Anna Krenz (born 1976) does not grumble about boredom, and what is even more important, she does not allow viewers of her art to be bored. On the contrary, there is nobody who would be indifferent passing her works. Laughter, astonishment, spontaneous critics, negation and indignation, fascination with works and admiration for idea – in this wide range of reactions everybody would find something for themselves. Each work of Anna Krenz becomes a „bridge” between distant phenomena, places, religions or visual aspects of consumerist culture.
In her paintings we will also find a link between ordinary things with their second nature, with questions which make us stop and ask – what is important, what religion is, what influence the politicians have, in what way we manipulate the others.

In ”The Magnificent Seven” Krenz comes back to the beginnings – beautiful, soft, reminding the play of courteous girls, dolls personify the saint and ask about commercialism; is everything for sale, even sainthood? This question is important in the days, when randomly chosen quotations are attributed to Poles, in order to award with sainthood which should cure the national complex.

“Monkeys and Saints” is a series of paintings on political and social issues and „The Magnificent Seven” project.

The Magnificent Seven

Agatha had her breasts chopped off, Jeanne was burned alive, Lucy had her eyes ripped out and her heart was stabbed with a sword. Florian was drowned in a river, Sebastian was shot with arrows, Adalbert was decapitated.

„The Magnificent Seven” is a series of puppets of Christian martyrs, shown in the moment of their cruel deaths. Christian tradition – paintings, sculptures and legends – is full of pictures of physical suffering as a punishment for religious faith. In our times these images may seem merciless, but the perception of contemporary people has grown used to the sight of blood over flown in the name of God. Although today the confl

icts between religion and images have escalated uncontrollably. Images of cruelty in mass culture, without religious context, are not tolerated easily and often censored. Where is the difference?

Anna Krenz

Anna Krenz (born 1976 in Poznan, Poland) is an artist and an architect, graduated from the Department of Architecture at the Poznan University of Technology and Energy, Environment & Sustainable Design Graduate Studies at the Architectural Association in London. Subjects of her art are social and political issues, gender, environment, stereotypes and religion. She works with various forms of artistic expression and media, from drawings, paintings, photography and video to net-art and performance. Anna Krenz takes part in solo- and group exhibitions in Germany, Poland and internationally. Anna Krenz is a co-owner of the Galerie ZERO in Berlin, an exchange and exhibition platform for Eastern European artists with focus on polish art. She is a co-founder of the band “the Curators”, which is into improvised and experimental music. Since April 2007 she is Editor-in-Chief of a polish design magazine “VOX Design”. She is also freelance journalist, specialised in architecture, for major polish architectural magazines. Since 2003 Krenz lives and works in Berlin.

www.annakrenz.net
www.zero-project.org 
berlinartprincess.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/thecuratorsberlin 
www.voxdesign.pl