DUVE Berlin is pleased to present *Very New Works*, a group exhibition, including works on canvas, board, installation, and sculpture by artists Markus Amm, Sebastian Black, and Paul Cowan.

*Very New Works* is a collection of three artists’ extremely recent creations, made specifically for the occasion of this exhibition.  Instead of focusing on specific works and their interactions, Very New Works brings together three artists who have diverse methods of creation, yet whose works all have strong sense of immediacy.  The pieces in the show are all metaphorically still damp - and the process of watching the materials dry parallels their finding their own solidified place in the world.  *Very New Works* captures the moment similar to when a pianist lifts their last finger from the keyboard and the final note echos through the hall - but before the concert hall either erupts in applause or just polite clapping.  A brief period of time when the art exists in a small vacuum, completed but not yet received.  

In order to expose themselves to such a naked moment, Amm, Black, and Cowan all create work that has, in some form or another, a self-aware sense of humor.  Amm is playful in his processes - moving oil across board in his own wholly unique method, wittily aware of his place in the linage of art history.  Black’s work, both in his period pieces and his new sculpture work, cause the audience to laugh outright, but then leave them to wonder why they have just done so, the mark of a piece that achieves the difficult balance of using humor, but that is clearly not a joke.  Cowan’s work is clever, sharp, and even biting; simplicity in placement and complexity in and idiosyncrasy in combination of materials give the audience pause, and in its elegance invite the audience to an intense and self-reflective viewing.

The exhibition takes the unadulterated millisecond of true newness, filled with tension, anticipation and excitement, and attempts to prolong it for just a bit longer to expand the rare experience of watching work come to life for the very first time.