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Richard Artschwager
Up and Down / Back and Forth
Deutsche Bank Collection
May 10 to July 06, 2003
Up and Down / Back and Forth is the title chosen by Richard Artschwager for his current exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim. Composed in close cooperation with the American artist, the exhibition of works created between 1965 and 2003 continues the series of presentations from the Deutsche Bank's own art collection.
Thinking in pictures. How do we recognize a table? How can we reproduce it graphically? When does a table become a sculpture? Richard Artschwager's art is about perceiving and representing the ways we see. The artist is interested not in objects themselves but in the ways we interpret and use them in different contexts. His work with pictures and objects is based, as he himself says, "on the relationship between the object, its producer/consumer and the common space they lay claim to." Such expressive elements as color and style merely serve to hinder visual analysis-which is concerned with investigating scale and perspective, space and surface. And in principle anything can be the object of such analysis: potatoes, a belt buckle, or photos culled from the media. In order to permute his "universe" in artistic terms, as he did in 1975, Artschwager needed only Basket, Table, Door, Window, Mirror, Rug.
A skeptic, Artschwager is convinced that "art is based on a series of instructions." Handed down conventions and social codes determine the way we see the world. A frame draws our attention to what lies within it; an exclamation mark to the words that precede it. Artschwager questions these rules and in doing so often makes us aware of them for the first time. In his frames we see only ourselves reflected; his exclamation mark is merely a symbol - it conveys no message. Reliefs "pour" themselves into corners; photo portraits are transformed into chairs and protective casing into significant content.
Up and Down / Back and Forth - Perception is not one-dimensional; it implies communication. In Artschwager's oeuvre, drawing, sculpture and painting are autonomous genres whose form and content are nevertheless mutually interrelated: "Sculpture is something to be touched, painting is for the eye. I wanted to create sculptures for the eye and paintings that asked to be touched."
Richard Artschwager was born in Washington, D.C. in 1923 of German-Russian parents. Today he lives near Hudson, New York.
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His Up and Down / Back and Forth exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim was planned and executed by Dr. Ariane Grigoteit and Friedhelm Hütte, curators of the Deutsche Bank Collection. It comprises over 40 drawings, sculptures, paintings and multiples in the possession of the Deutsche Bank and of private collectors. After being exhibited in Berlin, the works will be displayed in the Museum Moderner Kunst - Stiftung Wörlen in Passau, from November 29, 2003 until the end of January 2004.
The exhibited drawings are accompanied by a catalogue with essays by Ariane Grigoteit, Ingrid Schaffner and John Yau. The soft cover publication (German/English) in a slip case is available for € 26.80.
TWMDRB (aquatint, etching and trypoint, 18,90 x 25 inch, 2003) has been created especially by the artist as the Deutsche Guggenheim's Edition No. 23. The limited edition of 100 copies, signed by the artist, may be purchased in the MuseumsShop for € 1,390 each (framed: € 1,550).
In Artist's Talk on Saturday, May 10, 2003, 5 p.m., Dr. Dieter Schwarz, Director of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur, will be conversing with Richard Artschwager about his work. The event will take place in English. On this day the Deutsche Guggenheim will be also participating in the Berlin cultural event Literature and more.... around Unter den Linden and remains open until 10 p.m.
The traditional Deutsche Guggenheim family brunch will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2003. While the adults will be taken on a guided tour of the exhibition entitled Richard Artschwager: "I want to make art that knows no boundaries", the children will be busy with "marvelous" furniture. Afterwards, brunch in the museum atrium will cater to visitors' physical well-being.
At 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, 2003, the Berlin art historian Silke Sommer will deliver a presentation entitled "What does it feel like to look?" Remarks on the work of Richard Artschwager.
Free guided tours through the exhibition are offered daily at 6 p.m. The lunch lectures will take place every Wednesday at 1 p.m. and the keynote tours are held on Sundays at 11.30 a.m., followed by a brunch.
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Images of the exhibition
are available online at www.photo-files.de/guggenheim in a 300 dpi quality.
Further information at
Manager: Svenja Gräfin von Reichenbach
Press: Sara Bernshausen
Phone: +49-30-202093-14
Fax: +49-30-202093-20
email: berlin.guggenheim@db.com
Internet: www.deutsche-guggenheim.de
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