OPENING RECEPTION:
APRIL 12, 2024
6 TO 9 PM
Working in opposition to an expected structure that is intended to organize the course of everyday public life and the public gaze is one of the key conceptual foundations of the artist collective Moses & Taps™. In their second solo exhibition ZEITGEIST™ at Galerie Droste, this is concretized by using a supposedly order-creating public object as an artistic starting point, the dysfunction of which ultimately leads to chaos. In seven large-format works on canvas, the collective works with the aesthetic basis of the grid structure of digital screens that constantly surround us - be it on railway platforms, airports or adverts. Moses & Taps™ break up the rigid structure of the display panels, giving them an organic disorder and thus remaining in the contrasting, exciting and sensitive moment of order and chaos.
The liquid crystal screens that are omnipresent in our everyday lives function as a MacGuffin when transferred to the canvas. They are a source of ideas and triggers, but they play a subordinate role in the actual creative process. They are typographies that serve as a superstructure. Moses & Taps™ distort the words on the works, just as happens in real life when the screen is defective and letters blur or get lost. This gives the viewer pause and creates a moment of irritation.
At the same time, the words remain visually present, are recognizable on closer inspection and thus root the works in the image-word universe that Moses & Taps™ have been developing for almost twenty years. The technical approach can be seen as a confrontation between the collective's writing-based works and their abstract Splash™ series, which is based on a concrete break with the normative rules of graffiti. The current works are conceptually based on the latter series and question the legitimization of limiting systems, norms and regulations, whether subcultural, generally social or explicitly concerning the art world. This intrinsic reaction to dogmatic conventions always drives the work of Moses & Taps™ and in this exhibition marks an almost ironic, yet consistent addition to their already extensive oeuvre.
