Adrian Ghenie
Self-Portrait ‘en plein air’ 2
2021
Oil on canvas
160 × 300 cm
The Flirt
2021
Oil on canvas
250 × 220 cm
The Squat
2021
Oil on canvas
200 × 297 cm
Hanging
2021
Oil on canvas
210 × 290 cm
Self-Portrait
2017
Oil and collage on paper, mounted on wood
41.2 × 30 cm
Alpine Retreat 2
2017
Oil on canvas
290 × 300 cm
Show more works
Grace
2017
Charcoal on paper
130.3 × 90.4 cm
The Toy
2017
Oil on canvas
110 × 70 cm
The Happy Host
2017
Charcoal on paper
150.6 × 180 cm
Degenerate Art
2014
Oil on canvas
53 × 40 cm
Opernplatz
2014
Oil on canvas
130 × 100 cm
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich
Pie Fight Interior 11
2014
Oil on canvas
280 × 230 cm
Centre Pompidou, Paris (gifted by the Artist and Rodica Seward)
The Arrival
2014
Oil on canvas
210 × 165 cm
The Sunflowers in 1937
2014
Oil on canvas
280 × 280 cm
Self-Portrait No. 3
2010
Oil on canvas
46 × 34 cm
The Stigmata
2010
Oil on canvas
122 × 102 cm
Study for “The Trial”
2010
Collage and acrylic on paper
43.5 × 70 cm
Study for “The Hunted”
2010
Collage and acrylic on paper
70 × 51.5 cm
The Hunted
2010
Oil on canvas
203 × 170 cm
Berghof
2008
Oil and acrylic on canvas
120 × 155 cm
Nickelodeon
2008
Oil and acrylic on canvas
230 × 420 cm
Pie Fight Study 2
2008
Oil and acrylic on canvas
55 × 59 cm
The Collector I
2008
Oil and acrylic on canvas
200 × 290 cm
Self-Portrait ‘en plein air’ 2 2021 Oil on canvas 160 × 300 cm
The Flirt 2021 Oil on canvas 250 × 220 cm
The Squat 2021 Oil on canvas 200 × 297 cm
Hanging 2021 Oil on canvas 210 × 290 cm
Self-Portrait 2017 Oil and collage on paper, mounted on wood 41.2 × 30 cm
Alpine Retreat 2 2017 Oil on canvas 290 × 300 cm
Grace 2017 Charcoal on paper 130.3 × 90.4 cm
The Toy 2017 Oil on canvas 110 × 70 cm
The Happy Host 2017 Charcoal on paper 150.6 × 180 cm
Degenerate Art 2014 Oil on canvas 53 × 40 cm
Opernplatz 2014 Oil on canvas 130 × 100 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich
Pie Fight Interior 11 2014 Oil on canvas 280 × 230 cm Centre Pompidou, Paris (gifted by the Artist and Rodica Seward)
The Arrival 2014 Oil on canvas 210 × 165 cm
The Sunflowers in 1937 2014 Oil on canvas 280 × 280 cm
Self-Portrait No. 3 2010 Oil on canvas 46 × 34 cm
The Stigmata 2010 Oil on canvas 122 × 102 cm
Study for “The Trial” 2010 Collage and acrylic on paper 43.5 × 70 cm
Study for “The Hunted” 2010 Collage and acrylic on paper 70 × 51.5 cm
The Hunted 2010 Oil on canvas 203 × 170 cm
Berghof 2008 Oil and acrylic on canvas 120 × 155 cm
Nickelodeon 2008 Oil and acrylic on canvas 230 × 420 cm
Pie Fight Study 2 2008 Oil and acrylic on canvas 55 × 59 cm
The Collector I 2008 Oil and acrylic on canvas 200 × 290 cm
About
“For me, the twentieth century was a century of humiliation – through my painting, I’m still trying to understand this,” Adrian Ghenie famously stated – only to assert that “I’m not a history painter.” Ghenie, born (*1977) and raised in Romania during the Ceausescu dictatorship, is arguably the most successful and influential figurative painter of his generation – the first generation, one might add, to grow up in the age of the Internet. Along with the tumultuous history of the twentieth century, its art has been a great stimulus for Ghenie. It comes as no surprise that he approaches the achievements of the historical avant-garde, Duchamp and his successors, with great ambiguity. Some of his best-known early paintings carry titles such as Duchamp’s Funeral and Dada is Dead, reflecting Ghenie’s creed that the now canonized avant-gardists established an “extremist attitude in art, an ideological hatred of painting”. Ghenie’s imperturbable response to the rampant iconographical and technical “anything goes” of post-modernism, is his focus on the traditional, not to say reactionary medium of painting. What distinguishes him from other figurative painters of his peer group is his profound understanding of art history, that never exhausts itself in citation, and an increasingly virtuoso play with different stages of recognizability. Ever since his international debut in 2006 with his now legendary Pie Fight series, Ghenie has garnered attention and excitement with his intriguing compositions and stupendous technique, achieving the rare thing: to burn a highly individual and idiosyncratic style into our visual memory. Lenin, Darwin, van Gogh, Rousseau – and time and again himself: despite his anachronistic practice, Adrian Ghenie’s way of painting our common history has already earned him his own place in art history. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of museums such as the Metropolitan in New York, Tate in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Galerie Judin has been working with the artist since the year 2006. Juerg Judin is the editor of three successive monographs published by Hatje Cantz in 2009, 2014 and 2020.
Exhibitions
Catalogues
Chronology
Biography
1977
Born in Baia Mare, Romania
2001
Graduated from the University of Art and Design, Cluj, Romania
Lives and works in Berlin and Cluj
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Adrian Ghenie: The Impossible Body, Art Encounters at ISHO Pavillon, Timișoara
Adrian Ghenie: Inaugural Exhibition, Galeria Plan B, Berlin
2022–23
Adrian Ghenie: The Fear of Now, Thaddaeus Ropac, London
2022
Adrian Ghenie: Past, Pace Gallery, Seoul
2021
Adrian Ghenie: We Had Everything Before Us, Galerie Judin, Berlin
2020
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Adrian Ghenie: The Hooligans, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
2019
“I have turned my only face…” Paintings by Adrian Ghenie, The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
The Battle Between Carnival and Feast, Palazzo Cini, La Galleria, Venice
2018
Adrian Ghenie: Jungle in Paris, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
2017
Art Club #19: Adrian Ghenie, French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, Rome
Adrian Ghenie: The Graces, Galerie Judin, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie: Nightscape, Galeria Plan B, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie: Recent Paintings, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Adrian Ghenie: New Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
2015
Adrian Ghenie: Darwin’s Room, Romanian Pavilion, 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, Venice
Adrian Ghenie, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Adrian Ghenie, CAC Málaga, Malaga
Adrian Ghenie: Golems, Pace Gallery, London
Adrian Ghenie: Berlin Noir, Galerie Judin, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2013
On the Road to … Tarascon (with Navid Nuur), Galeria Plan B, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie: New Paintings, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
2012
Adrian Ghenie: Pie-Fights and Pathos, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
2011
Adrian Ghenie, Haunch of Venison, London
Adrian Ghenie: Rainbow at dawn, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2010
Adrian Ghenie, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent
Adrian Ghenie: The Hunted, Nolan Judin, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Adrian Ghenie: Darkness for an Hour, Haunch of Venison, London
Adrian Ghenie, National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest
2008
Adrian Ghenie: The Flight into Egypt, Nolan Judin, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie: Works on Paper, Galeria Plan B, Berlin
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2007
Adrian Ghenie: Shadow of a Daydream, Haunch of Venison, Zurich
They said this place does not exist, Wohnmaschine, Berlin
Dig and Hide, Chung King Project, Los Angeles, CA
2006
If You Open It You’ll Get Dirty, Galeria Plan B, Cluj
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
DIX UND DIE GEGENWART, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
2023
SIRANI. Thirteen Contemporary Painters and an Arresting Baroque Masterpiece: Ellen Akimoto, Alexander Basil, Norbert Bisky, Kyle Dunn, Adrian Ghenie, Christoph Hänsli, Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Brandon Lipchik, Lydia Pettit, Cornelia Schleime, Kiriakos Tompolidis, Hugo Wilson, Uwe Wittwer, Galerie Judin, Berlin
Looking Anew and Beyond: Contemporary Romanian Art from the Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
2021
Diversity United – Contemporary European Art, Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin
2019
Live Forever, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Geta Brătescu, Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Mureșan, Șerban Savu, La Fondazione, Rome
KUNST KUNST KUNST, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
The Collection (I): Highlights for a Future, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent
The Influencing Machine, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest
The Last Waltz (For Leon), Tim van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2018
Adrian Ghenie: The Darwin Room, 2013–2014, A Romanian Cycle at the Centre Pompidou, Galerie Zéro, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Niko Pirosmani, Albertina, Vienna
Art from Berlin in the Foreign Minister’s Office, German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
The Adderall and the Ecstasy, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest
Always Trust the Artist, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2017
Berlin Now, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY
Déjeuner sur l’herbe, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
Something living: Contemporary Figurative Painters, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Modern Gallery, Sydney
The Hierophant, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest
Luther und die Avantgarde – Zeitgenössische Kunst im Alten Gefängnis, Wittenberg und in Kirchen in Berlin und Kassel, Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V., Altes Gefängnis, Wittenberg
„Life is hard… Let’s go shopping.” The Encyclopedia of Masamichi Katayama, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo House Work, Victoria Miro Mayfair, London
2016
Take Care, Amigo, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
George Grosz: Politics and His Influence, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY
Track Changes, Mednes Wood DM, Sao Paulo
Animal Farm: Beastly Muses and Metaphors, Sotheby’s SI2 Gallery, London
Cher(e)s Ami(e)s: Hommage aux donateurs des collections contemporaines, Centre Pompidou, Paris
SALON Djurhuus, Munkeruphus, Dronningmølle
Intrigantes incertitudes: Dessin contemporain, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint-Étienne
“Très Traits,” Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles
ta.bu, Maison Particulière, Brussels
2015
In and Out of Time, Galerie Isa, Mumbai
Berlin Show #4: Inventory, Galeria Plan B, Berlin
Appearance & Essence, Art Encounters Timișoara/Arad, Timco Halls, Timișoara
Desire of the Other, Annka Kultys Gallery, London
A Selection of Pavilions, Gemeente Wassenaar, Raadhuis De Paauw, Wassenaar Omul Negru, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest. Traveled to: Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Painting Show: Part One, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory, and Revolution1916 – 2016, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst, Vienna
I Will Go There, Take Me Home, Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast
Group Exhibition, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Run for the Roses, Tim Van Laere Gallery
2014
A Pair Is Not A Collection: Six Artists Present Their Art Collection, LLS Palais, Antwerp
Through the Collector’s Eye: Works of the Generation 2000 from Cluj in Three Romanian Collections, Răzvan Bănescu, Micrea Pinte, Ovidiu Șandor, Fundația Plan B, The Office, Cluj-Napoca
Une histoire, art, architecture et design des années 1980 à aujourd’hui, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Traveled to: Haus der Kunst, Munich
I will go there, take me home (with Pieter Hugo and Olaf Brzeski), Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC), Belfast
Love Story: Anne & Wolfgang Titze Collection, Winter Palace and 21er Haus, Belvedere, Vienna
A Few Grams of Red, Yellow, Blue: New Romanian Art, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
2013
Painting Forever, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
Romanian Scenes, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris
Hotspot Cluj: New Romanian Art, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen
Nightfall, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague
2012
Francis Bacon and the Existential Condition in Contemporary Art, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
The Castle in the Air: Séance of Imagination, Centre of Culture ZAMEK, Poznan
Nightfall, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen
Six Lines of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
European Travellers: Art from Cluj Today, Műcsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest
Beaufort04, Triennial of Contemporary Art by the Sea, Middelkerke/Westende
2011
One of a Thousand Ways to Defeat Entropy, La Biennale di Venezia, Arsenale Novissimo, Venice
The World Belongs to You, François Pinault Foundation, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
The Art of Climbing Mountains, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Communism Never Happened, Charim Galerie, Vienna
Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
2010
The Crystal Hypothesis, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Bergamo
After the Fall, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY. Traveled to Knoxville Museum of Art, TN
Romanian Cultural Resolution: Figurative Painting in Romania, 1970–2010, Spinnerei Leipzig. Traveled to: Club Electroputere Craiova, Bucharest
Mircea Pinte Collection, Museum of Art Cluj, Cluj
2009
I’ve Watered a Horseshoe as if It Were a Flower, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Staging the Grey: 12 Romanian and Hungarian Painters, Prague Biennale 4, Prague
Show Me A Hero, Calvert 22 Gallery, London
Featuring 2, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris
The Punishment of Lust and Luxury, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool
Days Become Nights, Galerie Hussenot, Paris
Drawings & Other Works on Paper, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2007
Expanded Painting 2, Prague Biennale 3, Prague
Size Matters: XS – Recent Small-Scale Paintings, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Across the Trees, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY
Eastern European Painting Now, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
Janis Avotins, Adrian Ghenie, Andrew Palmer, Galerie Rüdiger Schoettle, Munich
Adrian Ghenie and Ciprian Mureşan, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Cluj Connection, curated by Jane Neal, Haunch of Venison, Zurich
Please Drive Slowly Through Our World, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Small Wonder, Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest
Monographs and Catalogues
2022
Adrian Ghenie: The Fear of Now. Edited by Oona Doyle and Kitty Gurnos-Davies. Interview between Nicholas Cullinan and Adrian Ghenie. Exh. cat. Thaddaeus Ropac London
2020
Adrian Ghenie: Paintings 2014–2019. Edited by Juerg Judin. Essay by Pamela Kort. Interview between Michael Peppiatt and Adrian Ghenie. Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag
Adrian Ghenie: Déchaîner la peinture. Essay by Yannick Haenel. Paris: Actes Sud Editions
2019
“I have turned my only face…” Paintings by Adrian Ghenie. Edited by Dimitri Ozerkov and Anastasia Veialko. Exh. cat. The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Adrian Ghenie: The Battle Between Carnival and Feast. Edited by Oona Doyle, Silvia Davoli, and Polly Robinson Gaer. Essay by Luca Massimo Barbero. Exh. cat. Palazzo Cini, Venice. Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
2018
Adrian Ghenie: Jungles in Paris. Edited by Oona Doyle. Poetry by Ghérasim Luca. Exh. cat. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London/Paris/Salzburg
2015
Adrian Ghenie Darwin’s Room. Edited by Juerg Judin and Mihai Pop. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag
Adrian Ghenie: Darwin’s Room. Edited by Mihai Pop and Corina Șuteu. Exh. cat. Editura Humanitas, Bucharest
Adrian Ghenie. Essay by James Hall. Exh. cat. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris/Salzburg
2014
Adrian Ghenie. Essays by Fernando Francés and Francisco Calvo Serraller. CAC Málaga, Malaga
Adrian Ghenie: Golems. Essay by Jasper Sharp. Exh. cat. Pace Gallery, London
Adrian Ghenie. Edited by Juerg Judin. Essay by Mark Gisbourne. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag
Adrian Ghenie. Exh. cat. Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2013
Adrian Ghenie: New Paintings. Essay by Nora Burnett Abrams. Exh. cat. Pace Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Adrian Ghenie. Edited by Juerg Judin. Essays by Anette Hüsch and Matt Price. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag
Adrian Ghenie: Rainbow at Dawn. Essay by Jos Van den Bergh. Exh. cat. Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2007
Shadow of a Daydream. Edited by Juerg Judin. Essay by Martin Coomer. Exh. cat. Haunch of Venison, Zurich and London