Join us for a virtual guided tour of Oma, a solo exhibition by artist Oliver Beer at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London.
Our Curatorial Associate Anaïs Lellouche will lead the tour together with Beer, live from the gallery. We will hear first hand from the artist about his personal connections to music and how it has informed his artistic practice.
This event is for Guest Club members only and their guests. Not a Guest Club member? Join here to receive our quarterly benefits, and register to attend this event.
Fancy a tipple with your event experience? Attendees will receive a discount code for Everleigh Bottling Co.'s Martini Bottled Cocktail upon registration.
OLIVER BEER
Oliver Beer (b.1985, lives and works in London and Paris) studied musical composition at the Academy of Contemporary Music before reading Fine Art at the Ruskin, University of Oxford and film theory at the Sorbonne, Paris. He makes sculptures, installations, videos, and immersive live performances that reveal the hidden properties of objects, bodies, and architectural sites. Drawing on his musical training, his social and familial relationships often become the blueprint for multi-disciplinary works. Beer’s work has been the subject of many solo and group exhibitions, notably at Met Breuer, Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA PS1, New York; the Sydney Biennale and Sydney Opera House, Sydney; Centre Pompidou, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Palais de Tokyo and Chateau of Versailles, Paris. His work is in major public and private collections around the world, including: MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Louis Vuitton Fondation, Paris; and Zabludowicz Collection, London.
OMA
Oliver Beer’s new exhibition Oma will present a new sound installation alongside sculptural wall works that are steeped in musical inheritance and exchange.
Centred around the installation of a pianola (a self-playing piano), the work will fill the gallery with a deeply personal piece of music composed in old age by the artist’s grandmother, Oma.
On the gallery walls, a series of new 'Two Dimensional Sculptures' evoking altarpieces or reliquaries, have all been made from objects that either belonged to Oma or resonate with her life. The works on display will be able to be opened and closed, revealing and concealing internal forms within an elusive white cube space. These hidden forms include Oma's engagement ring – which she intended for Beer's future wife, before knowing that he was gay – as well as the artist's great-grandfather's metronome, fossilised in resin, frozen in time.
Born in 1913, Oma was forbidden any form of musical education by her father, who was himself a violinist. She made her first composition at the age of 87, which she communicated to her grandson through a combination of singing and drawing.
Reflecting on how his grandmother’s struggles resonate to date, the artist noted:
“Although my grandmother’s story and this intimate moment of musical exchange seems rooted in the past – she was born in 1913 – the sentiment behind it is still very relevant in the 21st century when music is both a force of inclusion and exclusion. I wonder what music my grandmother could have made if the patriarchal society of her day had not excluded her from mainstream musical culture, and I feel conflicted about how Oma’s music has only now become audible through me. Even today only 17% of registered professional music writers in the UK are women, according to the Performing Right Society. The decisions we take now about who has access to music will change the cultural landscape of the 21st century.
– Oliver Beer, 2020”
Everleigh Bottling Co. Martini
The origins of the Martini are shrouded in mystery; everyone wants a piece of her. Described by author H. L. Mencken as 'the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet', the Martini is so strong and sexy, simply ordering one is enough to make us weak at the knees.
This is our house Martini, a classic 'wet' style with a ratio of gin to vermouth at 2:1.
Serving suggestion
Serve ice cold in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or olive.
Ingredients: Tanqueray gin, Dolin dry vermouth, orange bitters, water
Standard Drinks: 1.6 | ALC: 24% | Vol: 85ml
Image credits:
Oliver Beer, Silent Bow, Violin bow. Sectioned and set in resin; gesso. Courtesy the artist and gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, London.
Oliver Beer, Recomposition (Oma Tondo), 2020. Coloured pencils. Sectioned and set in resin; gesso. Courtesy the artist and gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, London.
