This show brings together a veteran US female artist, DEVON DIKEOU who just finished her PRIX DE ROME stipend for the USA. She for sure would have understood the new American Pope who openly dares to criticize the current 47th US president who weakens not only Europe but the alliance of countries that defend human rights, dignity and the rule of law according to the constitutions TO BE upheld at least in the USA for 250 YEARS FOR AN EXPERIMENT called DEMOCRACY. Some famous people said, “the best of all horrible ways for ruling people – self rule” – self rule ? – do people know what they want and what they get ? Sorry, before I talk about fine ART but this 250 year old struggle with the best interpretation of the law of the land that wants to be self-governed ….. at least they defeated thankfully the German Austrian Italian alliances and a few years later the Hitler alliances of fascists, anti-semites, racists and along the same lines.

Personal and historical memory is painful and can cost you your head. So why should we believe that art is a protection against totalitarianism when we have a current US president who orders the falsification of USA history? How can we defend basic freedoms from arbitrary rape and killings when the head of this democracy has pardoned neo-Nazis and January 6th criminals who wanted to have people in the Congress hanged. Pirouette jumping – is a neck-breaking sport – but a very fine art that has a tradition to belong to the oldest and most enchanting way to please a court, a king, the street.

Pirouette dancing and thinking are beautiful acts of long training and learning and believing in an art that is called classic but without words. We are happy that Devon contributed this very personal and her own family concerning piece to this show. I simply want to point out, Daumenlutscher is a creation by artists for artists against the abuse of any system, any promise, any form of forcing. The founder and owner Rilke is a New York male but a person who escaped postwar brutality and landed where he landed and wants to point out – Devon’s work shows a family story of excellence related to her one year stay in Rome when a family member who is a real ballerina dancer for a world renowned company came to perform in Rome. The remainder of the meaning of this work might be found like so many in the current MOMA exhibition of Marcel Duchamp and his ready-made.

Viach is an artist in her 20s who studied media, writing and videography and has works with text and paintings, so far falling through many cracks she prefers we do not address. The young larger NYC based artist is part of a land of immigrants and those who had problems at home finding a reason to leave the place of origin. People who work in homelands will maybe never understand those consequences. She can sing various real songs of harassment and is unable to give a second name given our times but our editing department intervenes: no last name – do not give away details.

Daumenlutscher is proud to present people who really are borderline but being borderline is not a condition to show since nobody needs to know what really goes on. Some ask what borders, what limits, what rules? For Daumenlutscher, our times are characterized by abuse, by new forms of fascism or neo-Nazism and activities that are sinister on every socio-economic level and include authorities, institutions and also what is called AI.

The only German artist in this show, Orpheo Winter, has a brilliant artistic sounding name depending from what educational background you are coming. His artwork is called “Sheen: Martin to Charlie” 2026 – and addresses two names of actors that are quintessential for “whatever goes on in America is reflected in Hollywood” and in that specific actor family. Sheen father Martin (today alive and 85 years old) was in “Catch-22” (a must see film ! like all of those I name here), APOCALYPSE NOW !!!!, JFK, Wall Street, Love Happens, An American Conservative etc. and his son, Charlie, who nearly lost his life with addiction and scandals. Martin Sheen was arrested for protests that are related to war and imbalances in the Middle East. Wikipedia shows him also with a survivor of the nuclear bomb. Religious fanaticism and the consequences of the religious right in politics – no matter where that takes place – is also a concern to this pillar of the best of the best Hollywood has to offer. His son has a different problem that is typical to what goes on in America as well, when it comes to personal traumas and the rise and fall of families – Charlie Sheen was like the son of Biden struggling with drug-related addiction. The dominance of narcotics in the life of people is today best reflected in Trump’s negotiations with China and Venezuela. The former produces the components needed for fentanyl production and Venezuelan state interventions including to kill bombings of vessels driving from Venezuela towards the USA with regime change in that country. But we all know the biggest drug Venezuela has is called heavy crude and Trump calls himself a digger of that energy though slowly losing it but doing so, pulling down many countries. As we all know nuclear fuel is the most consequential. Orpheo Winter contributed with his study for a wallpaper — an intriguing blend of an existing wallpaper on which he intervened adding basic elements of war and peace and ways we interact today that makes at least my mind spiral into a pirouette. Given the subtitle title of the exhibition – spinning wind versus time – he seems to really nail the wind and the floating wallpaper is about to take off in the current days of art against war and injustice’s fight. Orpheo has also helped to co-organize Daumenlutscher’s affairs and we are thankful for his sublime work. His next step is really produce his own wallpaper as a real wallpaper and not as a sublime handmade gigantic vertical drawing usually called mixed media. Daumenlutscher looks forward till the entire gallery will be transformed next year with his ideas in the form of a one person show.

Given the legal complication of Daumenlutscher who is not allowed by court order to make a commercial gallery in this ground floor location I must point out that we are a small enclave of all neighbors respecting assembly to discuss matters of fine art and matters of political massive change that could even destroy the neighborhood in the way, the Ukraine and countries in the Middle East and elsewhere are suffering from legal definitions of what is a border, what is a nation, what are alliances and what is a war. Daumenlutscher thanks the peaceful Emserstrasse community and its residents for not pursuing further legal actions when it comes to our discussions for peace and fine art. We do not have yet the money to turn into a commercial gallery hence we only are periodically assembling like-minded people that meet not to disturb the quiet neighbors but meet to discuss and perform against disgust and hope to produce really, really good art. The artists given chances to present and discuss their work are international and this time the USA led by USA artist Devon Dikeou reflects the still current situation in the world. But we know the challenger is called China hence thanks Yang Qiuyi who is not only an amazing France-based artist with a young family but also a person who values her freedoms.

Yang Qiuyi is a Chinese artist who will not be able to attend due to her task of being a young mother in a foreign land that is not Germany. Her work is dealing with two-dimensional space called oil on canvas. Simply from staring at the canvas anybody can tell, somebody here is overwhelmed with too much…. to do. The human body here is slashed on a grid of vibrant colors and all chiaroscuros give you rather a hint of what a life of an artist and mother in a land where your language is not spoken might be all about when resources are rare and family support is rather absent. Academic is her background nonetheless but in these days nothing stands for quality and even a signature is a fiction that can be broken or start to hunt you.

Let’s talk about the freedom to dance, to twist and to paint to escape the politics of our lives and our borders and our rulers that is so burdensome when war and even nuclear peril in all forms is constantly in the news.

Fresca is a collective of women artists that started in 2020 and prefers to stay anonymous as lives of female artists are complicated and underrepresented. This time, the gallery will present a sculpture work – unsigned and rescued from the spleen and ideal of fine art again in foreign lands. Daumenlutscher is representing FRESCA and this is their first representation with the gallery.

One of the founding members of the artist run space too, Rainer Ganahl will present a poem based on one of his works “selling the library” also presented during one of the Venice collateral events but not this year, ages ago when apps like humans still had memory and were not yet swiped away by disagreements and war and the threat of nuclear extinctions in the name of peace.