Adrian Ghenie

Galerie Judin, Berlin
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Berlin, Galerie Judin, Adrian Ghenie: The Flight into Egypt, November - December 2008

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly brighter, more vibrant and more nuanced in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Extremely close inspection reveals evidence of extremely light wear to the lower two corner tips. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Flight into Egypt II is part of a series of works first exhibited at an eponymous exhibition in 2008. The pieces revolved around Ghenie’s interest in narrative spaces, enclosed, somewhat claustrophobic interiors, in which the “figures are largely absent…they are sleeping, have their backs to the viewer, or seem lost in an inner dialogue” (Nolan Judin Berlin, exhibition flyer, n.p.). In the present work, the parent and child appear to walking away from us into an unknown void, but the narrative space is sharply defined. The definition of the box in which we find the subjects is heightened by its surroundings, where the sharp white lines give way to a far more gestural and textured style in the spaces beyond. Ghenie’s postmodern handling of paint in these areas points not only to a mastery of the medium, but an entrenched understanding of contemporary painting.

This is not, however, the only period of painting that Ghenie references here. The style of the subject’s clothing, the landscape orientation and above all else the title point to the Renaissance paintings that Ghenie so often makes reference to in his work. The Flight into Egypt was a common subject for hundreds of years, and yet Ghenie succeeds in presenting it in an entirely novel fashion. It is a traditionally a story of salvation. King Herod, the Roman appointed King of the Jews, learns of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, and his destiny to unify the Jewish people. Fearing for his seat, Herod orders the massacre of all young male children in town. An angel visits Joseph and warns him of Herod’s plan, so the family flees, saving Jesus’ life. However, rather than focusing on the salvation of the Holy Family from Herod’s infanticide, Flight into Egypt II confronts the terror of an unknown future ahead, and the horror that lies behind.

In the context of Ghenie’s work, these themes of exile and menace are re-contextualised. When he was a child, Romania wallowed in the clutches of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s tyrannical Communist regime. With the political oppression of World War II still resonating, the figures and events of the war were prescient for any child growing up in the Communist Eastern Bloc. This ominous political backdrop comprises the very fabric of Adrian Ghenie’s extraordinary work, which has often dealt with the horrors of the twentieth century, and the ease with which an idea, such as Communism, can veer so swiftly from enlightenment to despotism.

Although those Renaissance painters saw the Flight as a story of salvation, Ghenie sees it as the story of a genocide from which only one child escaped. Compounding this morbid reading is the knowledge that even the child that did escape is doomed to death at the hands of the Romans. The wood of the box in Ghenie’s painting prefigures Jesus’ eventual crucifixion, and the black void into which he and his parent move foreshadows his future suffering. There is certainly no promise of salvation here. The subjects are hunted, forced into a closed environment whose contents and consequences remain entirely unknown.