_Magnetfeld

Manuela Sambo and Daniel Sambo-Richter

The 2012 exhibition project of Angolan artist Manuela Sambo and German painter Daniel Sambo-Richter at GALLERY LISTROS opposes two different artistic positions. These both rely on varying contexts and artistic traditions as well as on different thematic interests. At the same time they show overlaps originating in a collateral artistic production and a shared work space.

The artistic position of Manuela Sambo, on the one hand, is characterized by stringent figuration and style stemming from the artist’s African cultural heritage. In her paintings, she addresses eros and sexuality, questions of female identity including her own as well as social constraints and norms. In her latest series, which she will premier at GALLERY LISTROS, she uses her own style language to examine the traditions of occidental renaissance painting, especially in regards to the perception of women. In this project, the artist wants to imitate the approach of the expressionists, who explicitly orientated themselves on African traditional art and style, which they adpted for their own art. In her experiment, Manuela Sambo follows the same approach thereby acquiring certain features that correspond to her own work.

The artistic work of Daniel Sambo-Richter, on the other hand, is based in Western traditions. Sambo-Richter works both figuratively and abstractly. His large-size varnish paintings "Space of Possibilities" address both the real, outward directed and the imagined, inward directed space. Thus, his exploration strategy is - abstractly and figuratively - named in two similarly marked access modes. By doing so he shows a traditional commitment to classic painting to whose formal methods he inevitably refers to and constantly interacts with.

In the joint exhibition, he contrasts his paintings with the new series of paintings of Manuela Sambo. These contrary positions achieve a tension without competing. Due to their long-standing familiarity with each other’s works, the artists see similarities not visible for the outsider at first sight. Links and parallels only become visible by contrasting both positions. Therefore, the exhibition presents a strong, nearly intimate, dialogue of cultures with the means of art, of painting.