Alex HanimannSame but Different

With “Same but Different” Alex Hanimann shapes a journey through time across his artistic production. The mirrored inside of the cover is itself already a reference to Nico’s cool song I AM YOUR MIRROR with the Velvet Underground, more spoken than sung, which is to be found on the record with Andy Warhol’s famous banana motif. Iconic images are an important theme for the artist, one presented in this book as though in a loop, through highly informative texts and with visual material from the three exhibitions of 2019–2020 at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, the Villa Merkel Esslingen and the FRAC Grand Large Dunquerque. Thus the grid pictures from the 1970s are represented just as much as the new high-gloss sculptures of the past five years, which show young people in their typical present-day outfits on a slightly enlarged scale (“Conversation Piece”). The arc is completed by a video ride on a bicycle (“Catch of the Day”) through Victoria Park in London. By virtue of its motif of movement, which stands for life, it connects in an almost utopian manner the images from the artist’s own youth with the sculptural reproductions of the young people of today.

Exhibitions:
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, 8/6 – 1/9/2019
Villa Merkel Galerie der Stadt Esslingen, 9/9 – 17/11/2019
Frac Grand-Large Hauts-de-France Dunkerque, 15/2 – 26/4/2020