The RAAB gallery

Raab Gallery was founded in former West-Berlin in 1978. For 23 years working in a Bauhaus building at Potsdamer Brücke with five meter high walls, it soon became famous for showing huge works by young Berlin artists like Elvira Bach, Rainer Fetting, Markus Lüpertz and K.h Hödicke. At the time it as well proofed to be a meeting point for emerging internantional artists such as Enzo Cucchi and Ernesto Tatafiore from Italy, Michel Alberola and Gerard Garouste from France, Donald Sultan and Chuck Close from the United States or Christopher le Brun from Great Britian, to name a few. After the wall went down Raab Galerie extended its Portfolio with an Artist from east germany: Hubertus Giebe, former master student of Bernard Heisig and lecturer at Kunstakademie Dresden. Street Art became an important issue for the last ten years, starting with by now internationaly well known berlin based Artist EL Bocho. While artists like Harald Klemm and Thomas Baumgärtel from Cologne close a gap between classical forms of artistic representation and new techniques with their stencil sprayed cavases, Raab Galerie also shows SKENAR73, a true graffiti writer. Since the gallery always strives to encurage new tendencies, plenty of group exhibitions have shown that street art and graffiti found their well deserved place in the canon of high quality contemporary art. Raab Gallery remains young and international to the day, with artists from Austria like Nina Maron and the sculpturer Martin Krammer as well as the next generation of Pop Artists such as Nuno Raminhos (Portugal), Ewen Gur (France) or Phillip Wolf (Spain). These western artists get complimented by South Korean Seoul based star artist Mari Kim, who shows that east asian art means in no way an opposition to western aesthetics but rather inspirational exchange.

current exibition:  Scharfenberg und Brinkmann - Sachlich und Brühwarm (01.11.24 - 28.11.24)

Describing the exhibited work in two words also means having a clear idea of the situation one envisions. Both artists explicitly insist that the title of this exhibition is characterized by two words. While Sven Scharfenberg can be defined as a romantic realist, making the part of the title – factual – suit him well, it is equally conceivable to associate Jan-Hendrik Brinkmann with the other part of the title – steaming hot: he likes to tackle themes that could be described as hot topics and perennial issues.

What does a young generation make of ugliness when it aims for beauty? For centuries in Berlin, it was common to demolish and rebuild; every thirty years, a popular square looked different because everything had become démodé. This can happen when one clings to fashions or political ideas. Although one is fortunate when a Lenné comes along and creates great structures, even that does not prevent misdevelopments. Mediocrity then spreads elsewhere as the result of frantically planned fast-paced changes.

Even in the countryside, one can look at buildings that were cast in concrete long ago with astonishment and wonder if they shouldn't be taken down. Aesthetic quality often seemed unaffordable at the beginning of construction projects, and in the end, average mediocrity triumphs and influences all actors down to the smallest details of their lives. The time that follows and concerns them now interests the next generation. What will they do when these products decay?

A pragmatic approach seems to be the order of the day. Much that was thoughtlessly and hastily planned must now be preserved because it is still needed. Other things that are familiar in everyday life are now kept hidden behind rose bushes, dipped in sunset colors, or abstracted in black and white, like in old films. From this emerges a new harsh aesthetic.

It becomes particularly exciting when both artists work together in this exhibition towards a common goal. Now the two adjectives – factual and steaming hot – can make peace with each other. This is not only entertaining but also stimulating and atmospheric, as the next generation, who can hold nothing against their grandparents, shows what happens when they pull hot potatoes from the fire or undermine well-intentioned efforts: the existing is examined for its sustainability. Quite factually, as much must last longer than one might wish. They also feel a burning urgency to prevent throwing things away or tearing them down. Now they take a step further: the existing is aesthetically celebrated and staged, transforming before our eyes. In light of such hopeful dedication, it can now become more beautiful.