Danny Frede. Art Blog Entry with „Cliffhanger“

On a visit to Danny Frede’s studio. An artist for whom just one blog entry does not seem enough. That’s why there will be two.

The artist Danny Frede is exhibiting his “Serial Rectangles” at our Hotel Villa Meererbusch until November 2018. As a group of works, however, the “Serial Rectangles” show only one single facet of his extensive and highly varied work.

High time to visit Danny Frede also in his studio. I am happy about the invitation. I like visiting studios very much, as a matter of principle. A studio is always a place where there is something to discover. It usually smells of wood and paint, sometimes of varnish. There’s always a lot to look at, and above all, there’s the wonderful opportunity to take a look at some „work in progress”. Actually, nothing is more exciting than looking over the artist’s shoulder.

As a photographer, painter, and graphic artist, Danny Frede (*1982) can hardly be described with a single one of the common labels of contemporary art. On his website, it says: “As a freelance artist in the urban periphery, he (=Danny Frede) deals with the translation of traditional concepts of painting into the perspectives of everyday life, which are increasingly shaped by digital processes”.

Aha. What does that mean? What exactly is this about? Cologne Porz is meant by the urban periphery. Danny Frede’s studio is located on a former factory site. Much space, lot of light. But what about the translation of painting into digital processes? It’s probably worth taking a closer, and a second (a third,…) look. And thus, I would like to tell you about my interesting and highly entertaining visit to Danny Frede in his Cologne studio.

Long visits are sometimes followed by long articles. And precisely because Danny Frede is such an extremely versatile artist, and at the same time, a very likeable person with whom you can have a very entertaining conversation, this will now be a blog post in two parts. So, an art portrait with “Cliffhanger” so to speak.

Danny Frede. The artist as a “serial repeater“?

Danny Frede himself says of himself that, after school and community service, he simply “forgot to study”. But that’s not really true. Because his work is a continuous, extremely thorough study of motif and mode. Experimental and with genuine joy of discovery, Frede explores the variants of his expression. He studies – sometimes excessively – the boundaries, rather the delimitations of his expression. His means are often consistent, meticulously concentrated repetition, which is then reflected in entire series. In his photography, as well as in his painting work.

In photography, such as “Young Men and Carcasses”, a series of life-size portraits of young men who are actually staged with carcasses. Unexpectedly, naked, very close, intimate, even vulnerable – and thus, for me, at least – in the literal sense disturbing.

Or, quite different, the “Edition ohne Dom“ („Edition without Cathedral“). This „edition“ is a collection of typical, unmistakable Cologne views, but without the Cologne cathedral. And although the cathedral is not to be seen here once, the photo / collage series is kind of a „soul warming“ experience for native Cologne people like me.

Danny Frede does not only stage well proven Cologne “postcard classics” such as the Hohenzollern Bridge or the traditional Dom Hotel, but also surprisingly alternative “sights” such as a handle in the KVB tram. Or the bollards used in Cologne to separate moving and “resting” traffic. And as they sometimes are not successful in separating the traffic at all. Indeed, there is a large number of bollards in the city that have been driven crookedly. Of ourse, Danny Frede’s bollards are also slightly crooked. Cologne style.

Or the Express newspaper vending machine. By the way, Danny Frede’s customers who opted for this motif, were not at all interested in the newspaper box itself. Rather, it was about the title headline of the Express issue in it: Football player Modeste is moving to China. Assumptions over a century deal for the Cologne FC football club. Cologne people are also always FC fans, at least they seem to be in some peculiar way, any there certainly is some link. However, the decision for a painting is always highly personal.

In his paintings, Danny Frede also implements repetition in his own very special way. The 256 imperfect colour gradients, for example. Painted by hand, inaccurate, in contrast to the flawlessness of the digital illusion in 4K. And then the „Serial Rectangles”. Is there a common denominator?

“Serial Rectangles”. From pixel to brushstroke. Or vice versa?

With Danny Frede’s “Serial Rectangles“, I am very familiar by now. Because we are currently experiencing them. Day after day in a highly concentrated form, with “full force,” so to speak. And because the exhibition, that is definitely worth seeing at our Hotel Villa Meererbusch, will stay more or less until the end of this year, I would to talk about the „Serial Rectangles” in a little more detail.

Rectangles. Really just rectangles, nothing else, and moreover, as an entire series? Isn’t that a little monotonous or bland? In geometry, the rectangle (or orthogon. At least that sounds like a more interesting word!) is just a flat square, the inner angles of which are all right angles.

At first sight, this doesn’t sound like a real “eye-catcher”. And admittedly, we were a little sceptical, when it came to the decision to go just for those „Serial Rectangles” in the preparations for Danny Frede’s exhibition. What would this radically uniform geometry „do“ to our walls, and thus, with us and our guests?

Uniformity without being uniform. Is that possible? Yes. Experiencing the intensity of serial repetition.

Actually living with the „Serial Rectangles”, we are currently experiencing the intensity of serial repetition day by day. However, one and the same form does not have to appear uniform at all. Quite the opposite.

Danny Frede repeats the rectangle within the rectangle in all these pictures, as a serial art. He creates a very peculiar aesthetic effect with seemingly endless rows, repetitions and variations of the same object. He explores the same theme (here the rectangle) as a system of constant and variable elements or principles.

The characteristic way, but also the large number of these differently sized pictures in different colours – from red and blue, to green and turquoise, or even with patina in gold and rust brown – fill our entire house with a very peculiar rhythm.

Each of these pictures has its own effect. At the same time, with the consequent implementation of pictorial rules and in the sequence, the individual work loses its individuality. And is theoretically interchangeable. The content of the series can only be grasped in the overall view. The actual subject matter recedes from the depiction itself. At first glance at any rate.

At second glance, the peculiarities, the uniqueness of the manual creation emerge. Every picture is different, at least a little bit. Their application of paint, the glaze and varnish. Second, the structure of the handcrafted, smoothed surface structure, which gives the picture an almost sculptural impression. The coloured, almost naturalistically painted, small rectangles that stand out in contrast to this background. They seem to float almost a little. And they remind me of small gemstones.

And there is it again. The uniqueness of the individual picture in opposition to endless repetition. Individual appropriation is actually created through repetition.
These “serial rectangles” appear extremely structured and focused. They are not perfect, not flawless as if made by a machine, but handcrafted. They are the result of careful, controlled work.

Attention: Now comes the Cliffhanger!

Danny Frede can also do quite differently. Even act without control. Why are huge wet canvases lying around on the studio floor? What are these “painting machines”? Is “Robotonism” a new word? And if so, what is this all about? I’ll tell you about it in the second part of my blog entry. Stay tuned!