Today we passed by the Parra exhibition at Pool Gallery in Berlin. For almost 4 months Parra has been preparing for the show, creating lots of new original pieces. Highlights in the show mark his new black/white series of prints, which come in editions of only 9 pieces. Our personal favorite is his new mid-size sculpture, which comes in his signature colors and in an edition of 20. Otherwise the exhibition showcases many outstanding paintings by the Dutch artist. We can only recommend a visit.

From August 29th Wood Wood Berlin will also be hosting a Parra pop-up store, where you will be able to purchase a special t-shirt that was released only for this event, along with lots of other Parra items.

In case you cannot make it out to the exhibition, go after the jump for a detailed look at all artworks on display.

World famous street artist Parra will be opening both a pop-up shop and exhibition this August in Berlin. The pop-up shop will be hosted at Wood Wood and offer products of art by Parra, while the Pool Gallery presents works of art by Parra. Events open on August 29tha nd August 27th respectively. More details on the mashed-up flyer above.

Visit Wood Wood as the date approaches for more information on the Parra Exhibition & Berlin Pop-Up Shop.

The Wood Wood x Vice Magazine x Pool Gallery pop-up store in Vienna opened its doors over the weekend. Today we can give you a look inside. The space combines a store with a gallery space, at the moment showing works of Peter Beste.

Open May 30 – June 10
12:00 – 20:00 daily except Saturdays 12:00 – 18:00
Gumpendorfer Straße 23
1060 Vienna Austria

Make sure to pass by. More looks from the interior of the store follow after the jump.

A few weeks ago we previewed “Choke Under Pressure,” the second solo exhibition by Berlin based Ruby Anemic, held at Pool Gallery. His work draws from decades of popular culture and artistic movements. There’s tongue in cheek humor. Highly conceptual work. Ironic commentary. Sculpture. And, painting.

The exhibition opened on October 30, and we can now show more detailed images of the installation and further works from “Choke Under Pressure.” The pieces remain on view until December 10, 2008.

More from Ruby Anemic after the jump.

Berlin-based Ruby Anemic likes to play with contradictions. His sources of inspiration come from 50s Design classics, modern graphic landscapes, porn toys and omnipresent symbols of pop iconography. There’s no field of contemporary culture Ruby does not use for his own purpose. The artist’s work, personal experiments with a variety of media and materials, is an assembly that displays an aesthetic conflict. The content of his work therefore moves between antithetical extremes: on one hand there are silent and conceptual works such as “Neutral Phase”, where a seemingly chaotic linear landscape creates movement in which a viewer can lose himself, and on the other hand there is meaninglessness, carried almost too far, where everyday objects are super sized into nonsensical monuments and a Roy Lichtenstein becomes a monolithic screen for the projection of the artistic ego. Ruby Anemic is very aware of the fundamental dichotomy behind his work and he skillfully brings this into play. Sometimes this is with irony, sometimes with subtle social criticism.

Pool Gallery is presenting the artists second solo show, “Choking Under Pressure,” from October 30 to December 10, 2008. Pool Gallery Ucholskystr.38 10117 Berlin, Germany.

Further examples of Ruby Anemic’s work after the jump.

The painter Oliver Rodriguez-Kroll is primarily concerned with the darker sides of human existence – with both individual, relatively innocuous pain as well as with the limitless frenzy pervading the history of humanity. Stories of perpetrators, victims, followers…

Looking to artistically de-demonise the day-to-day madness, Oliver Rodriguez-Kroll constantly uncovers new findings: ranging from storm troopers out of the Star Wars saga (of which he had, as a child, gathered up to 300 plastic figurines in his room) to antique tin soldiers, disused lifestyle magazines and faded posters.
All of these are a source of inspiration, templates or material for collages; they prompt him to counter the pervading contemporary banalisation of social issues with irony.

Simultaneously, certain pieces are a consciously naive way of dealing with traumatising experiences, be they his own or someone else’s, so as to make them more bearable, both for himself and for the observer.

Simple colours and shapes dominate these paintings and collages. Rather than to exude the stress experienced, the large, yet discreet pieces convey a feeling of calm and order.

Oliver Rodriguez-Kroll was born in 1971 in Hamburg. He has been living and working in Berlin since 1999 after several years in London and Paris.

“Zirkus Stalin Zirkus Hollywood” opens this week at Pool Gallery, and runs until September 13.

With the release of his new book "Berlin Calling," Alex Flach presents an impressive collection of photographs about life in his native city over the last twelve years.
In response to The Clash’s famous album "London Calling" his work depicts the heart of Berlin’s creative atmosphere and simultaneously functions as a timely marker of the fast pace of change the city has undergone since the fall of the wall.

Berlin today is without a doubt one of the most versatile, interesting and innovative places in the world. Having become a magnet for young, creative people from all around the world, this metropolis combines improvised everyday life with an internationally inspired artistic avant-garde. No one captures the essence of the city more authentically than Alex Flach in his photographs. Flach maintains faithfulness to his roots, yet adds an outside perspective on the city developed through his travels in New York, Tokyo and London. His independent view of Berlin is combined with insightful re-evaluations of the earlier modes of production he has used as role models.

In an exciting collaboration, Alex Flach has been working together with the publisher Paulo von Vacano, a cosmopolitan who finds his roots in Germany. Vacano launched his own art book publishing company DRAGO, and for years has had his finger on the pulse of international emerging trends that function autonomously from the art world. Alongside such internationally known figures as Mike Giant, Ed Tempelton, Ivory Serra, and Jeremy Fish, Paulo von Vacano publishes German notables of the urban art scene such as Evol and Pisa73 and well as Alex Flach. In Flach’s case, von Vacano has returned to his home country to breath fresh air into the heart of an international art scene. The pair’s acknowledgement of the value of artistic quality as well as a strong emphasis on non-conformity becomes abundantly clear as soon as one encounters this excellent collection of photos.

Born in 1974, Alex Flach grew up in Berlin as a "street kid". In the mid-90’s he discovered photography as a medium with which to document his experiences.
In 1998 he became photo editor at Lodown-Magazin. His work as a photographer has taken him to many places around the world. Alongside countless publications in renowned magazines, some of his clients include: Levi’s, Adidas, Vans, Spiewak, Nike and Etnies. He has also worked on video projects for Carhartt Europe, Sony Music and Nokia.
Presented in collaboration between Pool Gallery and Drago Publishing, "Berlin Calling" runs from July 11 to August 9.

Especially abroad, the Munich based label GOMMA enjoys the reputation as one of Germany´s most important music collectives. Besides their progressive music projects, the Gomma Gang has a huge output of visual work, of a diverse aesthetic and visual complexity which goes far beyond being simply artwork for music. Once a year they launch; the postermagazine AMORE, a limited t-shirt collection made in collaboration with BEANS (Tokyo) and MAGNIFIQUE (Los Angeles), and present the annual MONDO GOMMA Picture show, which takes place in a gallery somewhere between Barcelona and Tokyo.
 
Art directors of GOMMA are MIRKO BORSCHE and THOMAS KARTSOLIS aka SMAL and PAZE. Both have been awarded with several prizes, one of which being the Lead Award Germany in 2007.

Within MONDO GOMMA Picture Show there will be illustrations, music, and artwork exhibited by SMALPAZE with work from the label’s contributing artists and designers.
So far the show has featured artwork by Michael Sailsdorfer, Kostas Murkudis, MUNK, Benjamin Röder, Daniel Josefsohn and The Rammellzee. Previous years events have been held in Stockholm, Milan, Barcelona and last year in Tokyo, where Berlin based magazine 032C curated an exhibition showcasing five European Newcomers: the GOMMA universe was shown alongside Jonathan Meese, Amelie von Wulfen and Marc Brandenburg.

The next issue of AMORE poster magazine will be released in June 2008. As it’s regular feature it will include 24 broadsheet posters designed by SMALPAZE. For this issue, the role of "special guest" illustrator is taken up by the Australian MISHA HOLLENBACH aka PERKS. He and his girlfriend Mini, form the Melbourne based design- and fashion collective PAM, which in the last couple of years has emerged as a leading name in New Illustration. In Japan the collective’s name is revered to an almost cult like status.

The Pool Gallery is proud to present the MONDO GOMMA Picture Show No. 5. During the opening the new AMORE Magazine will be launched.
The exhibition opened yesterday and will run until July 7th. We passed by and can give you a detailed look at the works by both Misha Hollenback and Smal & Paze.
Check it out after the jump.

„My photographs serve as modern dioramas of our new natural history.“
In Domesticated Amy Stein explores the paradoxical relationship between man and the natural world: The primal issues of comfort and fear, dependence and determination, submission and dominance refer to our modern every day life.
The photographs in this series are constructed based on real stories from American provincial life.
By contrast, the setting of Halloween in Harlem is the City: kids are posing in colourful costumes in  the streets of New York. With their unconscious commitment to the traditions and rituals of this typical American holiday, the protagonists appear proud and isolated at the same time.
New American Fables shows selected works of both series.
Pool Gallery proudly presents the first solo exhibition of Amy Stein in Germany.
The New York based photographer has built up a successful career since graduating from the School of Visual Arts in 2006. She has been exhibited in a number of group shows immediately after graduating, won the 2006 Saatchi Gallery/Guardian Prize, has been named one of the world’s top 15 emerging photographers by American Photo magazine and won the Critical Mass Book Award in 2007.
Opening Reception
Friday 25. April 2008
19.00-23.00

Exhibition 26.April-24. May 2008

Opening Hours
Mo. – Fr.   12.00 – 20.00
Sa.       12.00 – 18.00

/ pool gallery
tucholskystr.38
10117 berlin germany
Get a first preview of the exhibition works after the jump.