Mostyn new exhibition season – Stefan Brüggemann: Not Black, Not White, Silver – 18th March to 17 June 2023

Photo credit: Stefan Brüggemann, ERODED PAINTING (HOT ICE)(detail), 2022. Spray paint on marble. © Stefan Brüggemann. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Damian Griffiths.
Stefan Brüggemann: NOT BLACK, NOT WHITE, SILVER
18 March to 17 June 2023
To open 2023, Mostyn is proud to present the first UK institutional solo exhibition by Mexican-German artist Stefan Brüggemann (b. 1975, Mexico City). Defying categorisation in the methodology of his art, its message as well as his own artistic and cultural identity, NOT presents the grey area in between seen across the artist’s work from the last 20 years. Brüggemann’s approach to art making often explores the provocative and ironic, reflecting on the paradoxes of contemporary society using language and carefully chosen materials. The exhibition takes place from 18 March to 14 May 2023 and is curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Director, Mostyn withcKalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza, Associate Curator of Visual Arts, Mostyn.
Defying categorisation in the methodology of his art, its message as well as his own artistic and cultural identity, NOT BLACK, NOT WHITE, SILVER presents the grey area in between seen across the artist’s work from the last 20 years. Brüggemann’s approach to art making often explores the provocative and ironic, reflecting on the paradoxes of contemporary society using language and carefully chosen materials.
Upon entry into the first gallery, the central hanging artwork from 2019, Headlines and Last Lines in the Movies (Guernica), commands attention. Of the scale of Picasso’s wartime masterpiece Guernica, Brüggemann’s reflective piece (from a series ongoing since 2010) overlays contemporary headlines with final lines from historically important dramatic films to create a cacophonous surface, here spraypainted in red, white and blue. At once billboard, at once mirror, the work occupies the space between high culture and everyday, between collectivity and individuality. The overload of information in the 21st century and the subsequent breakdown of meaning depicted in the aesthetic of street protest also figure into works on canvas and marble from the ERODED PAINTING series (2022), recording headlines around climate change on top of the artist’s own text reflecting on eroding landscape both physical and mental.
With superimposed texts and spray paint rendered in black, the plywood wall Hyper-Palimpsest (2019) in the last gallery further challenges legibility and interpretation. Creating a monochromatic palimpsest, texts by the artist in removed vinyl lettering are obscured with black spray-painted Headlines and Last Lines, further complicated with an audio recording of Iggy Pop reading the artist’s entire catalogue of text statements. In the same room with a more sparing gesture that equally tests the viewer, the neon works I can’t explain and I won’t even try (2003) as well as This work is realised when it is destroyed (2014), both confront the idea of meaning and art with a marked absence.
In the central room, a site-specific series of 10 fly posted works on paper, hi-speed contrast (2018), bring aesthetics of the street into the gallery. Playing with the scale and reproduction of digitization, Brüggemann’s work combines the speed and plasticity of the digital with the intervention of gesture, blurring the line between human agency and digital erasure.
Like the Guernica-scaled work in the first room where Brüggemann plays with reassessment of 20th century art in a contemporary framework, Trash Mirror Boxes (after MV) (2016) explicitly references the seminal Trash (1991) edition by Venezuelan conceptual artist Meyer Vaisman. Made into reflective mirror boxes, Brüggemann reverses inner and outer – the unreachable content of the “boxes” is denoted on the outside in a cursory note in the artist’s hand and multiplied into a grid layout; the installation becomes a reflective unattainable pool for the viewer to consider. Facing hi-speed contrast, Brüggemann’s Untitled (Joke and Definition Paintings) (2011) comes from a series which questions high and low art. He appropriates Joseph Kosuth’s series Art as Ideas (1966) and Richard Prince Joke Paintings (1985) – themselves appropriations of language – and combines the sober dictionary definitions with arcane jokes in a single canvas. Brüggemann removes his own hand with conceptual restraint in order to create a layered space of doubt between the two texts.
In creating spaces of doubt connected to contemporary life, Brüggemann invites the viewer into his work. While layering of texts challenge legibility, it also allows for multiple possibility.
About the Artist
Born in Mexico City and working between Mexico, London and Ibiza, Stefan Brüggemann’s oeuvre is characterized by an ironic conflation of Conceptualism and Minimalism. In this way, Brüggemann’s practice sits outside the canon of the conceptual artists practicing in the 1960s and 1970s, who sought dematerialisation and rejected the commercialisation of art. Instead his aesthetic is refined and luxurious, whilst maintaining a punk attitude. Spanning—and sometimes combining—sculpture, video, painting, and drawing, Brüggemann’s work deploys text in conceptual installations rich with acerbic social critique and a post pop aesthetic.
Texts about Brüggemann’s work have been written by Glenn O’Brien, Chris Kraus, Malcolm McClaren, and Mathieu Copeland. His work has been shown at the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela; Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Collection Yvon Lambert, Avignon; and Bass Museum, Miami, and works by the artist can be found in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, FRAC Bourgogne, Kunstmuseum Bern, Museo Tamayo, and Taguchi Art Collection.
About Mostyn
Mostyn is a free, public gallery in Llandudno, Wales, that presents a programme of outstanding international contemporary art within its galleries and online. This programme has recently included solo exhibitions by Cerith Wyn-Evans, Jacqueline de Jong, Nick Hornby, Chiara Camoni, Anj Smith, Nobuko Tsuchiya, Derek Boshier, Louisa Gagliardi and Shezad Dawood. Mostyn offers a public engagement programme including talks, tours and workshops, and supports over 400 artists through their onsite and online shop. Mostyn’s Director Dr Alfredo Cramerotti is also Co-Director of IAM Infinity Art Museum, Co-Founder of xxnft publishing platform and President of IKT–International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art amongst other international positions. Mostyn receives support from the Arts Council of Wales and is part of Plus TATE, the UK-wide contemporary visual art network. More information can be found at mostyn.org.
The Role of NFTs in Cultural Institutions – PlusTate & IKT
Talk: XXNFT: Revealing Remarkable NFT Women Artists
Thursday 15th December 2022, 11AM EST / 4PM GMT

XXNFT: Revealing Remarkable NFT Women Artists✨
During the webinar we will discuss the XXnft as the platform promoting female NFT artists. Moreover, co-founders of XXnft Auronda Scalera and Alfredo Cramerotti will share their perspective on female #NFT projects and #NFTart collecting. At the end webinar guests will reply to questions from the audience.
Guest Speakers:
▫️Auronda Scalera is the Cofounder of XXnft, a publishing platform for women and not binary in NFT; Co-Director, Infinity Art Museum on the Verse; curator and consultant for contemporary and digital arts based in London and Dubai. Upcoming projects include the organization of panels about NFTs and museums for plusTATE and IKT.
▫️Alfredo Cramerotti is Director at Mostyn gallery; Co-Director, Infinity Art Museum on the Verse; Adviser, British Council Acquisition Committee & UK Government Art Collection. He curated 4 national pavilions and collateral events at the Venice Biennale, EXPO Film & Video in Chicago, and the biennials Sequences VII and Manifesta 8. Cofounder of XXnft, a publishing platform for women and not binary in NFT.
Scalera and Cramerotti will be the curators during the next Venice Art Biennale for the Decentral Art Pavilion
Hosts:
▫️Denis Belkevich
Art economist and visiting lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art (New York), external consultant of Deloitte CIS in Art & Finance, General Partner of Fuelarts – the first dedicated ArtTech & NFT startup accelerator.
▫️Sonia Stubblebine
Art Historian with specialization in Art Management and Art & Finance. Fuelarts’ manager and interpreter.
New exhibition season in MOSTYN: Temporary Atlas – opening 25 June 2022
Temporary Atlas
Mapping the Self in the Art of Today
June 25–September 25, 2022

Adéọlá Dewis, Ode to mètèt mwe, 2022
MOSTYN is pleased to present Temporary Atlas: Mapping the Self in the Art of Today.
Temporary Atlas is an exhibition that presents an alternative, complementary idea to mapping as conceived in a traditional sense. There are multiple ways one can use mapping or cartography to understand our place in the world, amongst them, a societally endorsed, scientifically applied cartography and an individually perceived one. Each of us assesses, prioritizes and rates things in a different way, not all aspects of life have the same value and map representations are shaped by the purpose of the map and the intentions of the map maker.
The 17 cartographer-artists of Temporary Atlas adopt a mapping approach that is based on the traditional meaning of map as a representation of reality, but which expands it, complicates it, and challenges it—developing the concept of cartography along unconventional paths—those of the subconscious, spirituality, thought, identity, feeling, and all the idiosyncrasies that are present and intermingle in each of us.
The works on display propose perceptive and physical maps that provide insight into the artists’ personal experiences, whilst evoking mental landscapes within which the viewer can situate themselves; worlds beyond objective geographical coordinates.
Temporary Atlas is a visual, aural and spatial attempt to identify a transversal, intimate and perceptive reading of the self. In turn, the exhibition suggests ways in which we can perceive our emotional, political and aesthetic horizons, make sense of our circumstances and deepen our personal experiences in relation to the society in which we now live.
Temporary Atlas, includes works by artists Sanford Biggers, Seymour Chwast, Jeremy Deller, Sarah Entwistle, Enam Gbewonyo, Rochelle Goldberg, Oliver Laric, James Lewis, Ibrahim Mahama, Paul Maheke, Matt Mullican, Otobong Nkanga, Kiki Smith, Walid Raad and specially commissioned work from three Welsh artists Manon Awst, Adéolá Dewis and Paul Eastwood.
Temporary Atlas was on view at Gallerie delle Prigioni in Treviso, Italy, from February 5 until May 29, 2022. Curated by Dr Alfredo Cramerotti, this exhibition has been supported by the Arts Council Wales, Fondazione Imago Mundi and Fondazione Benetton Studi e Ricerche. Associate Curator: Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza.
ARTiculating Regeneration: Art as Agent for Change webinar by PlusTate / IKT / MOSTYN

An online panel discussion exploring sustainable & regenerative artistic practices and the impact on their respective landscapes.
About this event
Tuesday 5 April, 15.00 – 17.00 (UK time) / 10.00 – 12.00 (EST)
Plus Tate, MOSTYN and IKT (International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art) join forces once more for a panel discussion exploring regenerative blue/green infrastructure and sustainable artistic practices with hands-on implication and direct impact on the environment and landscapes upon which they are situated.
In October 2021, our organisations connected to present Sustainable Design and Regenerative Architecture in Cultural Spaces. During the session, we explored how art venues can become greener and heard from artists who were embracing sustainability as a pivotal part of their making.
During ARTiculating Regeneration: Art as Agent for Change on Tuesday 5 April 2022, speakers will take these concepts further by sharing their practices and the impacts on the landscapes on which they sit.
Speakers from across the globe will join together virtually to share the great work they are doing in this area. We will hear from:
Jason deCaires Taylor, Underwater Sculpture Artist
Jan Mun, Blade of Grass Artist
Elizabeth Monoian & Robert Ferry, Land Art Generator
Bill Reed, Regenesis Group
Adam Sutherland, Grizedale Arts
The session will be moderated by Ombretta Agró Andruff of IKT & ARTSail
Press coverage highlights for MOSTYN exhibition season November 2019-March 2020: Anj Smith, Chiara Camoni, Nobuko Tsuchiya
MOSTYN: Exhibition Programme 2020
Exhibition Programme 2020
MOSTYN
12 Vaughan Street
Llandudno LL30 1AB
United Kingdom
T +44 1492 879201
post@mostyn.org
MOSTYN, Wales UK is thrilled to announce its programme of exhibitions for 2020 which includes solo presentations by artists Kiki Kogelnik, Athena Papadopoulos, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Nick Hornby, Richard Wathen, and Jacqueline de Jong.
March 14–July 5, 2020
Kiki Kogelnik: Riot of Objects
Riot of Objects is the first institutional presentation in the UK to focus on Kiki Kogelnik’s ceramic works. Considered one of the key figures of the post-war avant-garde, Kogelnik’s multidisciplinary oeuvre spans five decades. Her multi-faceted artistic style evolved from painterly abstraction to Pop Art and the representation of the (female) body. This exhibition demonstrates Kogelnik’s boundless capacity for invention and restless commitment to making. Kiki Kogelnik was born in 1935 in Bleiburg, Austria. She lived and worked in New York and Vienna. She died in 1997 in Vienna, Austria. Curated by Chris Sharp in partnership with the Kiki Kogelnik Foundation.
Athena Papadopoulos: Cain and Abel Can’t and Able
This exhibition presents a new body of work by artist Athena Papadopoulos. Using her ever-expanding vocabulary of materials and ancient narratives, which she combines with unlikely elements, this new series of works includes sound, sculpture and painting, and explores human dichotomies, questioning the complicated duality of reason and emotion. Athena Papadopoulos was born in 1988 in Toronto, CA. She lives and works in London. Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Director, MOSTYN.
July 18–November 1, 2020
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings: In My Room
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings’ first solo institutional exhibition develops the artists’ enquiry into the politics, histories and aesthetics of queer spaces and culture. This newly conceived body of work includes a fresco painting, wall rubbings and a film, and highlights the impact of gentrification upon the city and its gay communities, whilst also exploring the relationship between masculinity, capitalism and power within the urban landscape. Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings were both born in 1991 in Newcastle and London. They live and work in London. Curated by Juliette Desorgues, Curator of Visual Arts, MOSTYN. Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery, In My Room is presented in partnership with MOSTYN and Humber Street Gallery, Hull.
Nick Hornby
This exhibition includes new photo-sculptural works by Nick Hornby, MOSTYN Open 21 “Audience Award” winner, and continues his enquiry into hybridity. Mining the collective index of cultural history, Hornby uses technology not only as a way of invoking potential new worlds but as a way of investigating alternative ways of seeing history. Nick Hornby was born in London in 1980. He lives and works in London and New York. Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Director, MOSTYN.
Richard Wathen
MOSTYN Open 21 “Exhibition Award” winner, Richard Wathen‘s solo exhibition comprises a new series of paintings. Rooted in the historical canon of painting, his work focuses largely on portraiture, depicting figures in states of hesitation and contemplation. Through the use of subtle details, his paintings retain a sense of ambiguity by refusing to be fixed in time and place. Richard Wathen was born in London in 1971. He lives and works in Suffolk, UK. Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Director, MOSTYN.
November 14, 2020–February 28, 2021
Jacqueline de Jong
Jacqueline de Jong is considered one of the crucial artistic figures of the post-war avant-garde. This exhibition is the first institutional solo presentation of her work in the UK. Throughout her career spanning half a century, de Jong has developed a unique painterly practice. Expressive in style, her work exhibits uninhibited eroticism, violence and humour. In parallel to her work as a painter, she was editor of The Situationist Times (1962-1967) and a member of the Situationist International during her early years in Paris in the 1960s. Jacqueline de Jong was born in 1939 in Hengelo, The Netherlands. She lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Curated by Juliette Desorgues (Curator of Visual Arts, MOSTYN) and organised in collaboration with WIELS where the exhibition will be presented by Xander Karskens (Director, De Ateliers) and Devrim Bayar (Curator, WIELS) (June 12-August 16, 2020).
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