OITM05

One is too much and a hundred are not enough

Dates
22.06.2010 | 15.09.2010
Gallery
London
Gelitin are an internationally renowned group from Vienna, Austria, formed Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka, Florian Reither and Tobias Urban. They met in 1978 and began to increasingly work together in the coming years, actively exhibiting as a partnership in 1993. One is too much and a hundred are not enough is the first solo exhibition for Gelitin in the United Kingdom for over five years and marks a departure for the group who are more renowned for intricate performance based feats. These fourteen plasticine works tackle the loaded image of the Mona Lisa, a subject that both fascinates and bemuses Gelitin in equal measures. The result is an energising celebration of an oft drably regurgitated and decontextualized masterpiece. Mona Lisa appears in varying dimensions with the classic visage and background pushed to extremes. Gelitin pride themselves in exploring all her fates. Untitled, Mona Lisa, (bearing ball) considers the viewer sheepishly with a single pupil peeping out from behind her hair. In other works sexual nuances are uncompromising loaded upon her by way of erect phallic noses and expectant receiving lips. Whilst with Untitled, Mona Lisa, (blue Lagoon) the perfect smile is parted to reveal the results of 16th century dentistry demanding empathy that one does not expect to supply. Untitled, Mona Lisa, (pretty bacon) and (pretty vacant) take these sentiments further as Mona is aged, torn and splattered. Gelitin have been described in the media as taking ideas and running with them and in recent years the Mona Lisa has proved a hard one for Gelitin to shift. One is too much and a hundred are not enough forms a heart felt homage to that smile. Gelitin have exhibited globally with Institutions, Museums, Galleries and not-for-profit organisations; including a solo exhibition entitled La Louvre, Paris, 2008, at ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Their work is currently featured in the The New Décor exhibition, Hayward gallery, London.

The Artist

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Gelitin

Gelitin is a collective comprised of Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka, Florian Reither, and Tobias Urban. The four artists first met at a summer camp in 1978, where they began to collaborate. However, Gelitin didn't officially form and begin exhibiting until 1993. They work and live in Vienna, Austria.


Gelitin's projects span a wide range of mediums, from performance and installation to sculpture and new media. Despite this diversity, their work is united by a shared purpose: to challenge the conventional relationship between artwork and audience.


Gelitin frequently invites audience participation in their work, encouraging viewers to become co-creators and collaborators rather than passive spectators. In some cases, they even invite the destruction of the artwork, blurring the boundaries between creation and demolition.


Through their unique blend of humour, spontaneity, childlike naiveté, and bold sexuality, Gelitin has established itself as a pioneering force in the art world. Their work challenges viewers to see the world from a new perspective and embrace the unexpected. By blurring the lines between art and life, Gelitin offers a playful and imaginative escape from the mundane