Anselm Reyle and Marianna Uutinen
dal 8/11/2013 al 24/1/2014
Segnalato da
8/11/2013
Anselm Reyle and Marianna Uutinen
Salon Dahlmann, Berlin
The works deal with the processes of artistic production and questions of authorship. Through the juxtaposition of Uutinen and Reyle's work, a new context is created for a discussion with and about the medium of painting:
Under the banner “Last Supper”, Salon Dahlmann presents the first joint exhibition of
Finnish artist Marianna Uutinen und Berlin-based painter Anselm Reyle on the 9th of
November 2013. Just like Pop-Art icon Andy Warhol’s final cycle of art works, which was
also titled “Last Supper”, this show – curated by Reyle and Uutinen themselves – is not
only dedicated to superficiality, illusion and temptation, attracting and repelling the viewer
in equal measure.
The dimensions of this cooperation are expounded upon in this exhibition, which shows the
many elements both artist have in common whilst working across a surprisingly wide
spectrum: reliefs, crushed foil structures, clashes of color, pieces of furniture and various
objects stemming from the Eighties until today. Uutinen and Reyle’s works are based on
various art historical movements but are also dealing with current themes, juxtaposing
consumer culture with the history of art.
There are echoes of the formal vocabulary of Hard Edge, Minimal Art and links with
Abstract Expressionism in both two-dimensional works as well as objects. The works deal
with the processes of artistic production and questions of authorship.
Through the juxtaposition of Uutinen and Reyle’s work, a new context is created for a
discussion with and about the medium of painting: how can painting still compete with our
multi-media dominated reality, and what are its limits?
For the first time, the early influence of Marianna Uutinen’s art on Anselm Reyle’s work is
explored. Meanwhile, it also becomes apparent that Uutinen has incorporated Reyle’s
oeuvre as well. Reyle first saw Uutinen’s art as early as 1995, when he was still an art
student at the academy in Karlsruhe, he visited her exhibition at the Stuttgart Kunstverein.
Her clear, minimalistic form language and unexpected use of materials – as in “Untitled”,
1989 - left an indelible impression on him. Her works continue to inform his artistic formal
language as well as his radical use of material objects and inquiries into the meaning of art.
His work is driven by the almost cringe-worthy banality of his motifs, as in his stripe
paintings and painting-by-numbers pieces, as well as through his appropriation of the
residues of urban life such as footstools, vases and seemingly cheap shiny silver foil. He
steers all these elements towards a brutal confrontation, critically cross-examining the idea
of so-called “low art” and “high art”.
Marianna Uutinen’s work is similarly multi-faceted. She explores the various artistic levels
of “camp” by taking it to a nearly excruciating level with tacky colors and plasticky
materials. As early as 1964, theorist Susan Sonntag explained in her essay “Notes on
Camp,” how this dimension of Kitsch can weave a web of meanings as well as constitute a
play with symbols, challenging conventional approaches to perception. In the same
manner, Uutinen provokes the viewer with the illusory materiality of her works. Although
they appear to consist of scrunched-up pieces of silver foil, they are actually made up of
numerous layers of paint. Through her surprising application of painting techniques,
Uutinen’s art converges with Reyle’s work, who also explores the medium of painting
through his nearly musical, swinging dynamics of color interspersed with jarring
dissonances. In this manner, they abandon the medium’s hierarchical structures and
expand its possibilities.
It is also possible to view the private rooms of Salon Dahlmann where a selection of works
from the collection is on display, as well as the Hans Arp sculpture in the courtyard, every
Saturday at 4 pm with appointment.
Anselm Reyle’s work is currently also on display at the New National Gallery in Berlin in
the exhibition BubeDameKönigAss (JackQueenKingAce) along with works by Martin Eder,
Michael Kunze and Thomas Scheibitz.
Marianna Uutinen is showing, alongside her exhibition at Salon Dahlmann, recent works
from the past few years at Galerie carlier | gebauer in I am Painting, from 16 November –
20 December, 2013. Opening: Friday the 15th of November, from 6-9pm.
Exhibition opening on Saturday 9 November 2013, 6-9 pm
Salon Dahlmann
Marburger Strasse 3, Berlin
Opening hours: Saturdays 11am - 4pm and with appointment
Free entry