G2 #20
V I T R I N E N
Andreas Schmitten

 

Soloexhibition
January 27, – May 15, 2023
Opening Thursday, January 26, 6 – 9 pm

Opening hours:
Wed. 3 – 8 pm / Fri – Sun 12 am – 5 pm

Public tours:
English Thu 4 pm

 

 

With VITRINEN, the G2 Kunsthalle presents an overview of the work of sculptor Andreas Schmitten, whose work incorporates sculptures, installations and drawings.

Schmitten deals with processes of humanity’s historical, social and cultural formation through objects that repeatedly open up associations with conventional products of mankind. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s showcase works. The view into his work is supplemented by drawings and free-standing sculptures.

In Schmitten’s showcases, we look at spatially staged objects and always trigger associations with familiar everyday items.  In the process, these develop their aesthetics and visual language that go beyond what we are used to, thus triggering an irritation that demands a reconsideration of the familiar. Through his showcases, the artist allows us to peer into timeless visual worlds that repeatedly open up references to the archaic origins of collectively used objects and, despite their seclusion, sketch an environment that forms an illusionistic spatiality beyond the boundaries of the showcase. 

The higher cabinet in the first room of the G2 Kunsthalle, where Schmitten shows the sculptures “Geburt” (Birth) and “Der Andere” (The Other), takes on an oversized and accessible showcase character. The lacquered bronzes are strongly reminiscent of sanitary ceramic fixtures. The smooth, homogeneous and sterile surface does not allow for impurities or flaws. Schmitten combines a functional object with an organic structure. The basin shape, a recurring motif in Schmitten’s work, opens up a complex associative space between content and emptiness, intake and discharge, purity and dirt, and inclusion and exclusion. At the same time, the sculptures’ positioning on a pedestal and elevation of the space gives them an altar-like aesthetic, allowing for a re-contextualization from a profane washbasin to a sacred consecration basin.

Andreas Schmitten offers a glimpse into his stagings, which can trigger archaic and instinctive feelings and mechanisms through the abstraction of familiar environments and objects. Illusions and ambivalences of contexts open up, leading to spectrums of allegorical and philosophical reflections.

 

 

 

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    installation views: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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    Installation view: Andreas Schmitten - VITRINEN, G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig, 27. Januar - 14. Mai 2023, photo: Dotgain.info © G2 Kunsthalle Leipzig & the artist

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