Thomas Schütte
7 September – 16 October 2004, Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Opening: Saturday, 4 September, 6 - 9 p.m.

We are pleased to present Thomas Schütte’s second solo exhibition here at
carlier | gebauer.

Since the early 1980s, Gerhard Richter’s former student produced a number of
seemingly incongruous bodies of work. In hindsight, Schütte has started out early on paths which he still follows today, unimpressed by formal discussions.

In the exhibition “Kreuzzug”, which is still on view at K21 in Düsseldorf until the end of September after having toured to Kunstmuseum Winterthur and the Musée de Grenoble, these paths are presented and impressively illustrated by mostly recent works. What all these works have in common is an irritating intensity. Jan Thorn-Prikker describes them as a unique melange of great earnestness, bitter irony and sarcastic scoffing. He accuses Schütte’s works of possessing a potential to insult.

Put simply, the works can be divided into three main groups with differences based partly on the technical production process.

Schütte’s graphic oeuvre offers the most personal statement. Here, political and private concerns merge with one another. Often these series have the nature of diary entries.

The group of models, started in the 1980s and continued after 2000, also displays a spontaneous character. In contrast to the clearly structured requirements of ceramic production and metal casting, in his models Schütte combines various materials without following a preconceived plan. The term model is perhaps confusing in this context. Rather, they are images and reflections of a reality that surrounds us. Through their shape and the selected materials all elements develop into concentrated signs, which, in combination with other signs, reflect complex social conditions.

Schütte’s figurative sculptures grow in importance with the group of life-size ceramic figures “Die Fremden”, which was shown at Documenta 9. This group is followed by “United Enemies”, “Kleine Geister”, “Grosse Geister”, the ceramic heads and finally, the steel women.

To quote Thorn-Prikker once more: “Thomas Schütte had retrieved the figure from the stage of contemporary art. ...This artist does not shy away from a confrontation with the barbarianism which sets the standards... He risks to be close to the edge of the nauseous.”

In our gallery exhibition Thomas Schütte will show new pieces from each of the bodies of work mentioned above. Further important works by the artist can be seen at the opening of the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection here in Berlin. In this context, a monograph of the artist written by Ulrich Loock will be published by Dumont Verlag, edited by the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information.

Thomas Schütte: born 1954 in Oldenburg, lives and works in Düsseldorf.
further exhibitions: “Kreuzzug”, K21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, until 19 September 2004; “Quengelware”, Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, until 12 September 2004.
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