The opposing impulses of creation and destruction mark the touchstone of the Hungarian-born, New York–based artist Rita Ackermann’s practice, which continues to evolve and manifest itself in the shift from representation to abstraction.

Ackermann’s compositions occupy a space where human forms simultaneously disappear and reemerge. In a series titled Chalkboard Paintings, large-scale compositions on canvas were primed with chalkboard paint, on which washes of white chalk and green and blue pigments were applied. These works, akin to Abstract Expressionism, are reminiscent of actual chalkboards in a classroom, covered with seemingly unintentional erasures and marks, yet they have been conceptually executed by multiple deletions of figurative drawings and landscapes. By way of these gestures, the revenant outline of the erased drawings often emerges into the foreground. The final picture is a record of these movements.

Ackermann’s recent solo exhibitions include Mama ‘20, Hauser & Wirth Zürich (2020); Mama ‘19, Hauser & Wirth New York (2020); Brother and Sister, Hauser & Wirth Zürich (2019); Movements as Monuments, La Triennale di Milano (2018); Turning Air Blue, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, England (2017); and The Aesthetic of Disappearance, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden (2016).

Chronology

1968 - Budapest, Hungary
1992 – 1993 The New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture (Hanes Foundation), New York NY
1989 – 1992 Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary

Publications

2022 - 'Sketchbook V (Twitchy)', New York: American Art Catalogues
2022 - 'Sketchbook IV (Frequencies of Freedom (Double Take))', New York: American Art Catalogues
2022 - 'Sketchbook III (7581)', New York: American Art Catalogues
2021 - 'Sketchbook II (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)', New York: American Art Catalogues
2021 - 'Sketchbook I (For Mama)', New York: American Art Catalogues
2019 - ‘Brother and Sister’, New York: American Art Catalogues
2018 - ‘The Coronation & Massacre of Love’, New York: American Art Catalogues
2018 - ‘Jezebels’, Rita Ackermann with Jeffrey Gunthaner, Emanuele Coccia + [et al.], Chicago: Drag City Incorporated
2017 - Rita Ackermann. drawings’, New York: Karma
2016 - ‘Noniggaho / Reactions’, Zurich: Nieves
2014 - ‘Freezer Burn’, curated by Rita Ackermann, New York: Hauser & Wirth Publishers
2011 - Rita Ackermann and Harmony Korine. Shadow Fux’, Rita Ackermann with Harmony Korine, New York: Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art
2011 - Fire by Days', Rita Ackermann with Rob Weiner, Zurich: Nieves
2010 - ‘Marfa’ (photographs), in: Purple Fashion, Paris, Issue 13, Spring / Summer 2010

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 - MASI Lugano, 'Rita Ackermann. Hidden', Lugano, Switzerland
2023 - Hauser & Wirth, 'Rita Ackermann. Vertical Vanish', Los Angeles CA
2021 - Hauser & Wirth, 'Rita Ackermann. Mama ’21', Monaco
2021 - Fergus McCaffrey, 'Rita Ackermann & Andro Wekua: Chapter 4', Tokyo, Japan
2020 - Hauser & Wirth, ‘Rita Ackermann. Mama ’20’, Zürich, Switzerland
2020 - Hauser & Wirth, ‘Rita Ackermann. Mama ’19’, New York NY
2019 - Hauser & Wirth, ‘Rita Ackermann. Brother and Sister’, Zürich, Switzerland
2018 - La Triennale di Milano, 'Rita Ackermann. Movements as Monuments', Milan, Italy
2018 - VIEWING ROOM, Marlborough Contemporary, 'Rita Ackermann and Carol Rama: Body Matters', New York NY
2017 - Hauser & Wirth, 'Rita Ackermann. Turning Air Blue', Somerset, United Kingdom
2017 - KARMA, 'Rita Ackermann. Nudes and Jacket', New York NY
2016 - Hauser & Wirth, 'KLINE RAPE', New York NY
2016 - Malmö Konsthall, 'The Aesthetic of Disappearance', Malmö, Sweden
2016 - Soccer Club Club, 'JEZEBELS', Chicago IL
2016 - FARAGO, 'JEZEBELS', Los Angeles CA
2015 - Hauser & Wirth, 'Chalkboard Paintings’, Zurich, Switzerland

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 - Nahmad Contemporary, 'Ugly Painting', New York NY
2023 - Hauser & Wirth, 'Escape', Southampton NY
2023 - The Foundling Museum, 'The Mother and the Weaver: Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection', London, UK
2023 - Artizon Museum, 'ABSTRACTION: The Genesis and Evolution of Abstract Painting Cézanne, Fauvism, Cubism and on to Today', Tokyo, Japan
2023 - AMANITA, 'Works on Paper: 100 Years', New York NY
2023 - LVH Art, 'Women in Abstraction', Hong Kong
2022 - QContemporary, 'Stories We Live With: Selection from the Somlói-Spengler Collection Budapest', cur. Mónika Zsikla, Budapest, Hungary
2022 - Long Museum West Bund, 'Being In the World: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum', Shanghai, China
2022 - Galerie Peter Kilchmann, '30 Years Anniversary Exhibition', Zurich, Switzerland
2022 - Hoffmann + Maler + Wallenberg, ‘Au bord de l’eau: Rita Ackermann, Emily Sundblad, Jamian Juliano-Villani', Nice France
2022 - Greene Naftali Gallery, ‘Turn of the Screw’, New York NY
2022 - Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 'Women Painting Women', cur. Andrea Karnes, Fort Worth TX Galerie Allen, ‘Interstices: Turns #3’, Paris, France
2022 - Huntar Dunbar Projects, 'Ninth Street and Beyond: 70 Years of Women in Abstraction. Part I: The Gestural,' New York NY
2021 - 56 HENRY, ‘Ladyfinger and Fig McFlurry,’ New York NY
2020 - Hauser & Wirth, ‘To Form a More Perfect Union,’ New York NY
2020 - Hauser & Wirth, ‘Artists for New York,’ New York NY
2020 - La Fab., ‘Out of Frame & Landscapes. In the Agnès B. Collection,’ Paris, France

Books from Rita ACKERMANN

Damaged Chapter 4

Rita ACKERMANN, Andro WEKUA

$45.05 $38.30

Chapter 4

Rita ACKERMANN, Andro WEKUA

$45.05