Mehdi Chouakri

Gitte Schäfer

14 Nov 2013 - 18 Jan 2014

© Gitte Schäfer
Oile, 2013
Stone Of The Dolomits
approx. 50 x 55 x 13 cm
Unique piece
Certificate signed by the artist
GITTE SCHÄFER
Die Wirklichkeit trägt ein Forellenkleid
14 November 2013 – 18 January 2014

Objets inanimés, avez-vous donc une âme
qui s’attache à notre âme et la force d’aimer?
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869)

Gitte Schäfer‘s exhibition Die Wirklichkeit trägt ein Forellenkleid marks a further, impressive stage of development in her oeuvre.
Gitte Schäfer’s new group of wall objects presented by Galerie Mehdi Chouakri originates from the Swiss town of Oberwil, where she has lived and worked for the last year. In many ways, these objects reflect Gitte Schäfer’s relocation from Berlin to Oberwil; from the more rugged, rough major city to an–at least apparent–idyll, a kind of peaceful Arcadia. She works there in a former workshop, which quietly overlooks a wide valley–perceptually the ideal environment for her specific “search for an object-time”.

Gitte Schäfer stays loyal to her characteristic theme of “collage”, while at the same time expanding it, presenting larger formats with partly stage-like compositions, in which different found items enter into a not seldomly surreal dialogue. Often provided with small consoles, these altar-like tableaux bridge the gap from antiquity to iconographic images of European modernism. By placing those still recognizable objects within such tableaux, Schäfer dissolves their orginal character, allowing them to develop a new, auratic quality.
It stands to reason that certain works also reflect personal moments. Not without influence is Gitte Schäfer’s friendship with Vienna-based artist Daniel Spoerri, known for his still life like compositions.
Her stone wall relief Oile refers to ancient Greece, but is also an homage to Meret Oppenheim, who used this image for “signing” her letters. The title of the exhibition Die Wirklichkeit trägt ein Forellenkleid is taken from a poem by André Heller.
 

Tags: Meret Oppenheim, Gitte Schäfer, Daniel Spoerri