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Press Release

Mitchell-Innes & Nash will present the first U.S. solo exhibition for Hamburg-based artist Tjorg Douglas Beer from February 18 – March 25, 2006. HIRNWASCHANLAGE *Brain Washing Plant is the name of the installation that Beer will construct inside the gallery. It represents Beer’s vision of the interior of a brain and its effects and influences on society's behavior. The construction will be modeled after the Donkey-Kong video game, with many levels and protagonists who are propelled through it. Beer is interested in the mechanisms of the “brainwashing” of contemporary society through the steering and manipulation of the individual. Also on view will be a selection of large-scale collages created from materials including duct tape, Sharpies, plastic tarps, lacquers, and aluminum foil. The collages depict apocalyptic landscapes riddled with fire, smoke, skulls, barbed-wire fences, rockets, towers, and tanks. Beer’s pictorial vocabulary is at turns tragic and militaristic, while his handling of materials lends the work a sense of levity and absurdity. He uses humor and playfulness to engage the viewer with themes that are aggressive and violent. Tjorg Beer works in installation, video, sculpture, performance, photography, and collage. He is also known for co-founding and running Ausstellungsraum Taubenstrasse 13 in Hamburg, an alternative project space that maintained a bi-weekly exhibition program from 1999 - 2004. He was the focus of a recent solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Hamburg, 2005, and was selected as one of the 25 emerging artists to participate in the "New Talents" section of Art Cologne, 2005. He has exhibited at galleries and art centers in the U.S., Europe and Japan, including Space Other, Boston, 2005; the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan, and the Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark, 2003; the Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich, and the Kunstverein, Hamburg, 2002/2006. Beer was born in 1973. He attended the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, where he graduated in 1994. Beer is represented by Mitchell-Innes & Nash. Listing Information: An opening reception will be held at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Chelsea: Saturday, February 18, 6 – 8pm. Mitchell-Innes & Nash Chelsea is located at 534 West 26th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 6pm T: (212) 744-7400 www.miandn.com Press Information: Stacy Bolton Communications T: 212.721.5350 E: Mamie@StacyBolton.com