EVELYNE AXELL AND ALLISON ZUCKERMAN
POWER SHIFT

KÖNIG GALERIE
7 NOVEMBER – 21 DECEMBER 2024

OPENING
6 NOVEMBER 2024 | 6 – 8 PM

KÖNIG GALERIE is pleased to present POWER SHIFT a dynamic two-person exhibition featuring the works of Evelyne Axell and Allison Zuckerman in the Nave of St. Agnes. Curated by Zuckerman, this exhibition explores how feminist art evolves, and responds to its time while remaining constant in its messaging. Axell and Zuckerman, though separated by decades, both employ art to challenge and redefine the representation of women. Their works resonate with themes of empowerment, society’s fixation on the fleeting nature of beauty, and the performance of womanhood. Together, they create a rich dialogue exploring the struggle for female autonomy and the complexities of female identities and agencies.

Evelyne Axell was a Belgian Pop Art iconoclast whose work fearlessly explored themes of female power, sexuality, and liberation. Known for her vibrant color palette and innovative use of materials, Axell’s art challenges societal expectations and celebrates the strength and boundless potential of women. Her work often features women in control of or merging with machines, suggesting a reclamation of space within a male-dominated culture. This exploration of power, control, and sensuality resonates profoundly within the broader context of feminist art. Axell’s work serves as a defiance against societal expectations for women to be seen and not heard, representing a literal and figurative breaking of silence.

Allison Zuckerman presents early works from 2016 along with paintings and sculptures from 2023. The 2016 paintings are the raw genesis of her distinctive style, where she collides comic book imagery with art historical references. These pieces are marked by their exploration of complex feminine emotions and actions – confrontation, vulnerability, fantasy, and anxiety. They embody a naked emotionality, blending humor and poignancy in a celebration of female strength. Zuckerman’s later works stem from that feministic affirmation of identity. They reflect her ongoing research on materials and the layering of references, where sculptures and paintings translate into dense compositions that evoke the flow of digital information.

The uncanny similarities within both artists' work – whether in color palettes, thematic imagery, or raw emotional intensity – make this pairing feel almost inevitable. Evelyne Axell and Allison Zuckermann painted at the same age, though separated by 50 years. Their works tell a story of womanhood, complete with honest ups and downs, discoveries, and, most of all, passion. The exhibition is a tour through the impulses of one’s psyche – bringing deep-seated hopes, fears, and dreams into the physical realm.

EXHIBITED WORKS

Anxious/Avoidant

Allison Zuckerman

Anxious/Avoidant

Auto-stop

Evelyne Axell

Auto-stop

Campus

Evelyne Axell

Campus

Curtain Caller

Allison Zuckerman

Curtain Caller

Etude pour Le désir

Evelyne Axell

Etude pour Le désir

Finding Out

Allison Zuckerman

Finding Out

La Chute d'eau

Evelyne Axell

La Chute d'eau

Learning the Truth

Allison Zuckerman

Learning the Truth

Let Her Be

Allison Zuckerman

Let Her Be

Music Decorates Time

Allison Zuckerman

Music Decorates Time

Naked Gun

Allison Zuckerman

Naked Gun

Portrait de Myriam

Evelyne Axell

Portrait de Myriam

Poser

Allison Zuckerman

Poser

Road Runner

Allison Zuckerman

Road Runner

Solo Act

Allison Zuckerman

Solo Act

Summer Brunch

Allison Zuckerman

Summer Brunch

The Interminable Wait

Allison Zuckerman

The Interminable Wait

Three Graces

Allison Zuckerman

Three Graces

Unrequited

Allison Zuckerman

Unrequited

Vernissage 2

Evelyne Axell

Vernissage 2

Sold
Marooned

Allison Zuckerman

Marooned

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FEATURED ARTISTS

EVELYNE AXELL

Evelyne Axell (born 1935 in Namur, Belgium; died 1972 in Belgium) began her career as a TV presenter, becoming a charismatic and acclaimed theatre and film actress in Paris and Brussels, as well as a scriptwriter. In 1964, due to the misogyny inherent within the film industry, she decided to quit her promising acting career to pursue painting. It was during the filming of one of her husband’s documentaries, “Dieu est-il Pop?”, that she met in London with Allen Jones, Peter Phillips, Pauline Boty, Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, and Joe Tilson. She then decided to embrace Pop Art. 

The Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte, a family...
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ALLISON ZUCKERMAN

Allison Zuckerman (b. 1990 in Philadelphia, US) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute Chicago in 2015. The content of her paintings draws equally from the annals of art history and the imagery of net culture, with a special focus on the representation of women by male authors. Composed of collaged elements torn from previous work, which are then painted over, Zuckerman’s pictures are filled with colourful figures and fragments, packed to the point of almost total saturation, creating endless pictorial connections between otherwise disparate cultural symbols and motifs.

Most recently...
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