Lutz & Guggisberg
29 Aug - 17 Oct 2009
LUTZ & GUGGISBERG
“Schlecksteinzimmer“
29 August – 17 October 2009
Andres Lutz (1968) and Anders Guggisberg (1966) live and work in Zurich. Their now first solo exhibition in our gallery was preceded by two group exhibitions Paint (2003) and Urban Diary (2001). The artist duo attracted international attention in solo exhibitions at Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau, at Museum Folkwang in Essen, at Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris, at Kunstverein Freiburg, at Villa Merkel in Esslingen, and at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
The art of Lutz & Guggisberg has been very aptly described as “neo-alchemist ars combinatoria”. This indicates, on the one hand, the open artistic approach that, besides music, incorporates language as a discipline. On the other hand, found objects of all kinds, waste material, junk and bric-a-brac are transformed into artworks that not only happily burst the bounds of all categories and genres. Conjecture is allowed that Lutz & Guggisberg (who have been collaborating since 1996) are working away at an opus magnum. While doing so, they transmute the materials they use in their experiments to ever new forms and to an imagery that reveals a sheer boundless anthology of associations.
The title Schlecksteinzimmer evokes an interior in which sculptures and paintings fuse into a three-dimensional, Baroquely lush installation. „Schlecksteine” are Styrofoam sculptures reduced to simple forms and coated in plaster, which recall the formal vocabulary of a Constantin Brancusi. They stand in the room like well-proportioned, almost lifeless, minimonoliths.
Which ironically undermines the claim that modernism engenders absolute form. The polished surface of the “Schlecksteine” additionally ironizes Brancusi’s interest in enhancing the ideal of absoluteness by his work ethic of gloss and finish. Other sculptures made of chipboard leftovers recall scale model landscapes or architectural utopias of modernism, while vertical structures made of wooden branches recall Vladimir Tatlin’s design for his monumental tower. Totem-like configurations of stacked lampshades produce interiors that recall the cramped and dusty atmosphere of a bourgeois living room, while simultaneously assuming an aura of trashy design.
Nevertheless, Lutz & Guggisberg also take up classical materials and production techniques, by having, say, helmets and saddles cast in iron. These seem to be the insignia of heroes whose life and deeds must have been about as tragicomical as that of a Don Quixote. A sculpture made of yarn, plaster and pieces of wood that simulate bricks, on the other hand, recalls a strange domicile that allows a view into a labyrinthine interior. The ancient figure of the Minotaur could just as well reside here as could a top manager who has decided to opt out on a desert island.
Also in their paintings, Lutz & Guggisberg associate and parody with a playful lightness of being. Hybrid figures and legendary creatures populate picture worlds in which everyday life is stood on its head, for instance, when a dense compilation of musical instruments is transformed into the macabre goings-on of goblins. Lutz & Guggisberg often paint their own sculptures, who or which then function as protagonists within an inscrutable narrative.
Birgid Uccia
Vernissage: Friday, 28 August 2009, 6 – 9 pm in the presence of the artists, followed by a summer fête in the courtyard.
“Schlecksteinzimmer“
29 August – 17 October 2009
Andres Lutz (1968) and Anders Guggisberg (1966) live and work in Zurich. Their now first solo exhibition in our gallery was preceded by two group exhibitions Paint (2003) and Urban Diary (2001). The artist duo attracted international attention in solo exhibitions at Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau, at Museum Folkwang in Essen, at Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris, at Kunstverein Freiburg, at Villa Merkel in Esslingen, and at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
The art of Lutz & Guggisberg has been very aptly described as “neo-alchemist ars combinatoria”. This indicates, on the one hand, the open artistic approach that, besides music, incorporates language as a discipline. On the other hand, found objects of all kinds, waste material, junk and bric-a-brac are transformed into artworks that not only happily burst the bounds of all categories and genres. Conjecture is allowed that Lutz & Guggisberg (who have been collaborating since 1996) are working away at an opus magnum. While doing so, they transmute the materials they use in their experiments to ever new forms and to an imagery that reveals a sheer boundless anthology of associations.
The title Schlecksteinzimmer evokes an interior in which sculptures and paintings fuse into a three-dimensional, Baroquely lush installation. „Schlecksteine” are Styrofoam sculptures reduced to simple forms and coated in plaster, which recall the formal vocabulary of a Constantin Brancusi. They stand in the room like well-proportioned, almost lifeless, minimonoliths.
Which ironically undermines the claim that modernism engenders absolute form. The polished surface of the “Schlecksteine” additionally ironizes Brancusi’s interest in enhancing the ideal of absoluteness by his work ethic of gloss and finish. Other sculptures made of chipboard leftovers recall scale model landscapes or architectural utopias of modernism, while vertical structures made of wooden branches recall Vladimir Tatlin’s design for his monumental tower. Totem-like configurations of stacked lampshades produce interiors that recall the cramped and dusty atmosphere of a bourgeois living room, while simultaneously assuming an aura of trashy design.
Nevertheless, Lutz & Guggisberg also take up classical materials and production techniques, by having, say, helmets and saddles cast in iron. These seem to be the insignia of heroes whose life and deeds must have been about as tragicomical as that of a Don Quixote. A sculpture made of yarn, plaster and pieces of wood that simulate bricks, on the other hand, recalls a strange domicile that allows a view into a labyrinthine interior. The ancient figure of the Minotaur could just as well reside here as could a top manager who has decided to opt out on a desert island.
Also in their paintings, Lutz & Guggisberg associate and parody with a playful lightness of being. Hybrid figures and legendary creatures populate picture worlds in which everyday life is stood on its head, for instance, when a dense compilation of musical instruments is transformed into the macabre goings-on of goblins. Lutz & Guggisberg often paint their own sculptures, who or which then function as protagonists within an inscrutable narrative.
Birgid Uccia
Vernissage: Friday, 28 August 2009, 6 – 9 pm in the presence of the artists, followed by a summer fête in the courtyard.