Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Anselm Reyle.
Reyle finds inspiration in his immediate surroundings, from the typical Socialist architecture that dominates much of the landscape of post-war Germany to the flea-market finds signifying the growth of global capitalism. When making his art, he mines found objects from a profusion of cultural backgrounds; treating and displaying them equivalently and without further comment. By conflating all manners of extant social artifact with motifs from the annals of recent art history, he imbues them with new vitality and decorative allure, thus reinvigorating the dialogue about the role of modernism today.
For Athens, a modern city dominated by classical ruins, Reyle has created a series of specific works as a meditation on the fragment. Untitled white porcelain sculptures, displayed in velvet-lined vitrines, possess the aura and preciousness of museum objects. Closer scrutiny reveals that their parts are broken porcelain residues, salvaged and fused together into tenuous wholes. Produced at the historic Meissen porcelain factory in Germany, the pieces are double-fired in the manner of traditional handcrafted porcelain to produce a high luster. The purity of the porcelain finish, the sanctity of the display, and the traditional bourgeois connotations of the medium are at odds with forms created through the actions of accident and contingency.
Reyle provides background and context for these surprising new porcelain works with sculptures and paintings that are both typical and specific. Comprised of materials such as acrylics, glitter, mirrors, and collaged and painted metal objects, these techno monochromes abound with references to iconic abstractionists, from Kenneth Noland to Otto Freundlich. In Mystic Silver (2009) fragments of debris are metamorphosed with the application of holographic lacquer to create unprecedented abstract visual harmonies within a monochrome aesthetic, while the pearlescent, tactile White Earth pays homage both to the Achromes of Manzoni and the constructed monochromes of Klein.
Anselm Reyle was born in 1970 in Tübingen, Germany and lives and works in Berlin. His work is included in major international collections including Boros Collection, Berlin; DaimlerChrysler Collection, Germany; Rubell Family Collection, USA; and Francois Pinault Collection. Recent solo exhibitions include "Ars Nova", Kunsthalle Zurich (2006); "Licht und Farbe", Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany (2004); and "Acid Mothers Temple", Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany (2009).
