It's been so long since I covered anything at Haunch of Venison that I almost forgot about it. That is until I checked out the current show up at their London gallery by Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie entitled Darkness for an Hour.

While I have to admit, I find some of the Duchamp and other art historical references to be just a little trite and not the best of his work, overall, the mood, the palette, and the subject matter of Ghenie's work is amazing. Like everything else I'm into these days, it's dark dark and more dark.

The exhibition demonstrates Ghenie's ongoing exploration of the medium of paint, and his enduring fascination with European history, addressed through ideas relating to memory, trauma and extremism.

The sources for Ghenie's images are derived from a combination of his own memories and from historical books, archives and films. While Ghenie often engages with specific and emblematic images and moments in twentieth century history - the death of Stalin, the Hollywood comedy stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the art collection amassed by Herman Goering during the second World War, or the infamous Dada fair of 1920 Berlin - his paintings are never prescriptive but rather open to a multitude of possible interpretations.

Figurative imagery is buried within drips and pours of paint, scraped and weathered surfaces, which perhaps represent contrasting states of clarity, fluidity and erosion. Ghenie seems to suggest that history and memory are never fixed, but rather in flux.

Read more on HoV's site, where you'll find links to pics of the works in the show, a bio for Ghenie, and pics of his work installed in the gallery. Don't forget to check out these images of Ghenie's work on Andreiana Mihail Gallery's site and these pics on Galeria Plan B's site. So hot.

Darkness for an Hour
Adrian Ghenie
Haunch of Venison / London
Through 07.25.09