The artwork of Christian Hellmich.

I came across the work of Christian Hellmich through Art Forum Magazine and was instantly drawn to the architectural composition of his artwork. Hellmich is currently having a solo show at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York. The show is entitled "The Array/Transfer-Domino" and below is the press release.

Returning for his second solo exhibition in New York, German artist, Christian Hellmich, will present a group of new works at Lehmann Maupin Gallery entitled The Array/Transfer-Domino 14 January- 20 February, 2010. Since his 2006 show, Arrangement, a group of paintings depicting interiors, exteriors and arrangements of architectural perceptions all emphasizing form, texture, and geometry, Hellmich has endeavored to further explore the roles of painting and architecture within the context of his unique process. As Hellmich's previous works depict definitions between an interior and an exterior, viewers will find in this second exhibition a broadening of these definitions. The role of architecture remains one focal point of Hellmich's subject matter, though a myriad of topics and imagery flow throughout the works.

Hellmich's new works reveal a certain grade of concreteness and representation through his process, in which he strives towards a decisive moment and a formulation of definitions in the exactness of the vague, appropriating his artistic strategies. The two-part title of Hellmich's upcoming exhibition, The Array/Transfer-Domino, is drawn from influences he finds in many different pictorial sources, whether it be news, advertisements, entertainment, literature, or any other form of culture.

In informatics an Array is seen as an arrangement of similar elements through a determined method. The term "Transfer-Domino" can be seen as a constant search for the next tile, but for example, also refers to the personnel carousel found in professional sports. The exhibition title demonstrates the way Hellmich works and where his interests lie: in communicating through definitions and terms, and the exchange process of these terms, all of which, pertinent in this body of work.

Christian Hellmich was born in 1977 in Düsseldorf, Germany and studied at the Folkwangschule of Essen with an emphasis on free diagramming/painting. For Hellmich, painting is an exercise in taxonomy rather than storytelling. Hellmich's work has been included in numerous group exhibitions such as at Kunstverein Mannheim and Von-der-Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, he was featured in Lehmann Maupin's 2005 Summer Show, "Fresh Paint", and held a solo show at Tanja Pol Galerie, Munich in 2009. In 2010 a solo exhibition of Hellmich's work will be on view at Kunsthalle Barmen. He lives and works in Cologne.