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The Spirit is Weak but the Flesh is Willing
A collection of 16 works by German artist Martin Eder. Published to accompany his solo exhibition at HENI Gallery, London, the book features a conversation with Eder, Damien Hirst and Tim Marlow.
The Spirit is Weak but the Flesh is Willing is an exhibition catalogue to accompany the solo exhibition of new paintings by the Berlin-based artist Martin Eder on show at HENI Gallery, London, in collaboration and support of Newport Street Gallery. Published in a black fabric hardcover with black foil text, the catalogue includes a conversation with Martin Eder, Damien Hirst and Tim Marlow.
Eder’s paintings examine beauty and ugliness, depicting kittens and wide-eyed puppies alongside uncompromising nudes and more sinister and surreal encounters.
The new series of paintings describe a descent into hell – as in Dante’s Inferno – into the deeper regions of the subconscious mind and its dreams. Martin Eder‘s work can be read as a coded irony, a melancholic intermediary stage in the cosmos of New Objectivity, sharp, cynical, anti-attitude, contemporary figurative painting and installation. He is concerned with the issues of metaphysics: the quest for the cognition of the underlying structure and the principles of reality.
The works are full of hidden meanings, secret messages, stories and unsolved mysteries. There is a sense of something uncanny lurking behind each and every corner. In the title of the show, which is a reversal of the well-known biblical quote, the artist says he is attempting to describe the post-pandemic state of mind in which find ourselves.
Publication:
October 2021
Illustrations:
16
Dimensions:
280 x 220 mm
Format:
Hardback
ISBN:
978-1-912122-54-7
No. of pages:
52
Martin Eder was born in Augsburg in 1968. He trained as a commercial designer at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg. He later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and Kassel before graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden in 2001. Martin Eder’s work is represented in major collections worldwide. He lives and works in Berlin.
Damien Hirst is a British artist whose name has become synonymous with contemporary art. Since his generative work as a student at Goldsmiths School of Art, Hirst’s production has been boundary‐redefining in nature. Working primarily in installation, painting, sculpture and drawing, Hirst explores the complex relationships between art, beauty, religion, science, life and death.
Timothy Marlow is a British writer, broadcaster and art historian who is the Director and Chief Executive of the Design Museum, London. Prior to this role, he was the Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He has lectured on art and culture in over 40 countries.