Michael Wutz
13 Feb - 01 Apr 2010
MICHAEL WUTZ
"Tales, Lies and Exaggerations"
Duration: 13 February - 1 April 2010
Private view: 12 Februar 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.
Location: Aurel Scheibler, Witzlebenplatz 4
14057 Berlin
The works of the young artist Michael Wutz (*1979) fluctuate between two poles: his fascination for the traditions, cults and rites of primitive tribes or lost cultures and his quotidian urban world.
Michael Wutzʼs sepia and charcoal drawings address content deemed taboo by our own society such as violence and death. These themes are rendered graphically as tethered skulls and severed heads used ritually as fetishes or to intimidate enemies. Nevertheless, his work does not coquet with vanitas symbolism and morbidity nor does it rely on shock value. The artist does not focus on the depiction of heads as parts of previously intact bodies in order to emphasize the cruelness of slaughter. Rather, he condenses his motifs aesthetically to form a new whole, thereby emphasizing the headʼs significance as a symbol.
Large-scale etchings, another mainstay of Michael Wutzʼs work, aptly demonstrate his unique talent for combining history with the art of telling a tale. World concepts drawn from Christianity, German history, or literature of the fantastic are brought into play to reflect on his own reality. The exhibition at Aurel Scheibler features Michael Wutzʼs most recent etching and was inspired by Perle [Pearl], the city described in Alfred Kubinʼs novel Die andere Seite [The Other Side]. In this novel, haunted houses and crime scenes have been reassembled to create a bizarre town that is magically connected to the body of the cityʼs founder, Claus Patera.
Depicting the borders between dream and reality as well as mixing urban and organic forms are all crucial aspects in Wutzʼs work and particularly suited to the medium of etching. The complex multiphase procedure requires the artist to make various decisions and exert control, while also demanding the acceptance of a given—at times uncontrollable—dynamic developed during the chemical process. Technology and man become enmeshed in the creative process of etching.
Michael Wutzʼs keen interest in the dynamics of the artistic production processes and their relationship to the motifʼs narrative content are perhaps most apparent in his frequent enhancement and transformation of his etchings. The etchings are cut apart, expanded upon, and recomposed in a digital editing process as animated films. The film created from the etching exhibited here will be premiered at this yearʼs Art Cologne where he has been awarded his own booth by the fairʼs juried „New Positions“ program. Excerpts from this film will be on view in Tales, Lies and Exaggerations.
Michael Wutz studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and was a Meisterschüler of Leiko Ikemura. In 2008 he won participation in the exhibition Yozo Hamaguchi 100th Anniversary International Print Competition and Exhibition at the Musée Hamaguchi Yozo: Yamasa Collection (MHYYC) in Tokyo. He was awarded First Prize at the Graphic Triennial in Brunssum (NL) in 2009.
"Tales, Lies and Exaggerations"
Duration: 13 February - 1 April 2010
Private view: 12 Februar 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.
Location: Aurel Scheibler, Witzlebenplatz 4
14057 Berlin
The works of the young artist Michael Wutz (*1979) fluctuate between two poles: his fascination for the traditions, cults and rites of primitive tribes or lost cultures and his quotidian urban world.
Michael Wutzʼs sepia and charcoal drawings address content deemed taboo by our own society such as violence and death. These themes are rendered graphically as tethered skulls and severed heads used ritually as fetishes or to intimidate enemies. Nevertheless, his work does not coquet with vanitas symbolism and morbidity nor does it rely on shock value. The artist does not focus on the depiction of heads as parts of previously intact bodies in order to emphasize the cruelness of slaughter. Rather, he condenses his motifs aesthetically to form a new whole, thereby emphasizing the headʼs significance as a symbol.
Large-scale etchings, another mainstay of Michael Wutzʼs work, aptly demonstrate his unique talent for combining history with the art of telling a tale. World concepts drawn from Christianity, German history, or literature of the fantastic are brought into play to reflect on his own reality. The exhibition at Aurel Scheibler features Michael Wutzʼs most recent etching and was inspired by Perle [Pearl], the city described in Alfred Kubinʼs novel Die andere Seite [The Other Side]. In this novel, haunted houses and crime scenes have been reassembled to create a bizarre town that is magically connected to the body of the cityʼs founder, Claus Patera.
Depicting the borders between dream and reality as well as mixing urban and organic forms are all crucial aspects in Wutzʼs work and particularly suited to the medium of etching. The complex multiphase procedure requires the artist to make various decisions and exert control, while also demanding the acceptance of a given—at times uncontrollable—dynamic developed during the chemical process. Technology and man become enmeshed in the creative process of etching.
Michael Wutzʼs keen interest in the dynamics of the artistic production processes and their relationship to the motifʼs narrative content are perhaps most apparent in his frequent enhancement and transformation of his etchings. The etchings are cut apart, expanded upon, and recomposed in a digital editing process as animated films. The film created from the etching exhibited here will be premiered at this yearʼs Art Cologne where he has been awarded his own booth by the fairʼs juried „New Positions“ program. Excerpts from this film will be on view in Tales, Lies and Exaggerations.
Michael Wutz studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and was a Meisterschüler of Leiko Ikemura. In 2008 he won participation in the exhibition Yozo Hamaguchi 100th Anniversary International Print Competition and Exhibition at the Musée Hamaguchi Yozo: Yamasa Collection (MHYYC) in Tokyo. He was awarded First Prize at the Graphic Triennial in Brunssum (NL) in 2009.