Thomas Ruff
Porträt (A. Zeitler), 1998
Chromogenic Print
210 × 165 cm
Edition 1/4
Goshka Macuga
International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, Configuration 19, End of Systems: Ada Lovelace, 2016
Bronze heads and poles
142 × 147 × 200 cm
Eberhard Havekost
Ohne Titel (M), 2018/2019
Oil on canvas
40 × 27 cm
Goshka Macuga
International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, Configuration 16, First Man: Yuri Gagarin, 2016
Bronze heads and poles
34 × 37 × 205 cm
Thomas Ruff
Porträt (T.Djordjadze), 1999
Chromogenic Print
24 × 18 cm
Unlimited
Jan Merta
Obrácený Daniil Charms / Daniil Charms – Inverted Portrait, 2012-2020
Oil on canvas
110 × 90 cm
Florin Mitroi
30.VII.1987
Tempera on canvas
55 × 42 cm
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Ma Ke
Game 2, 2012
Oil on cardboard
109 × 79 cm
Sophie Reinhold
Basic portrait of a very young woman, 2017
Oil and marble powder on canvas
77 × 60 cm
Stephan Balkenhol
Alice in Wonderland, 1989
Wawa Wood
154 × 104 × 64 cm
Stephan Balkenhol
Alice in Wonderland, 1989
Wawa Wood
232 × 168 × 84 cm
Thomas Helbig
Grosses Mädchen, 2009
Lacquer and oil on wood
250 × 205 × 6 cm
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Leiko Ikemura
C.H.R., 2019
Tempera on untreated cotton
40 × 30 cm
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Leiko Ikemura
Kitsune, 2020
Glass
20 × 32 × 13 cm
4/5
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Thomas Struth
The Felsenfeld / Gold Families, Philadelphia, 2007
C-print
140.2 × 179 cm
Edition 5/10
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Leiko Ikemura
Joseph, 2015
Tempera on untreated cotton
60 × 50 cm
Helene Appel
Fleisch, 2021
Encaustic and oil on linen
13,5× 13,5 cm
Janis Avotins
Untitled G, 2011
Oil on canvas
62 × 109 cm
Thomas Zipp
A.O.: R, 2020
Acrylic, Oil, Aluminum, Rubber, Lacquer on linen, Artist frame
125 × 105 × 5 cm
Florian Süssmayr
Die Frauen vom Finanzamt München IV, Deroystrasse, 2021
Oil on canvas
100 × 80 cm
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Martin Creed
Work No. 299, 2003
Photographic print
56,7 × 85,3 cm
Ed. 8/10 + 1 AP
Eberhard Havekost
Ohne Titel (K), 2018/2019
Oil on canvas
60 × 30 cm
Slawomir Elsner
Portrait of a Young Woman as a Wise Virgin, 2021
Color pencil on paper
54,7 × 47,5 cm
Leiko Ikemura
Cindy, 2015
Tempera on untreated cotton
70 × 50 cm
Alex Katz
Ada, 2012
Oil on canvas
127,1 × 101,6 cm
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Steven Claydon
Hebdomeros, 2010/2013
Etched and enamelled patinated bronze
76 × 76 cm
Helene Appel
Fischfilet, 2020
Encaustic and oil on linen
25 × 12,5 cm
Alex Katz
Mel, 2005
Charcoal on paper
36,8 × 53,3 cm
Leiko Ikemura
Sleep, 2020
Glass
15 × 27 × 18 cm
Leiko Ikemura
C.H.R., 2019
Tempera on untreated cotton
40 × 30 cm
Devoted entirely to the portrait, this exhibition gathers a wide variety of creative expressions offered in this genre. To this day, the portrait has remained one of the most important, ever reinvigorated artistic forms of representation. It is a recurring figure in countless creative concepts. In light of the current lack of face-toface encounters, it was with great enthusiasm that we delved into the subject of portraiture.
Thomas Ruff approached the subject in the 1980s, opting for a neutral representation of a frontal halflenghts free of any semblance of emotion, gesture, or facial expression. He showed the surface—but not the individual features—of the depicted person in large-format works, thus questioning the original intent of portrait photography. In contrast, Thomas Struth portrays individuals, couples, and families with a plate camera and long exposure. His images attest to the empathy with which he deals with his models; they evoke psychological depth and present the subjects in private and intimate surroundings, like 2007’s The Felsenfeld / Gold Families, Philadelphia, shown in this exhibition.
Using his inimitably strong, abstract-leaning style of painting, Czech painter Jan Merta has created a haunting portrait of the writer and poet Daniil Kharms. Merta expertly ties his work in with the Russian avant-garde, as if he himself were a member of the artist collective OBERIU, or Union of Real Art, which Kharms cofounded.
Slawomir Elsner’s new colored-pencil drawings also dazzle us with portraits of women whose detail and concomitant blur show icons of art history as well as everyday faces like hazy memories.
For the first time, we will be showing the poetic portraits from the oeuvre by Leiko Ikemura. In the traditional tempera technique she reacts, in a quick, trance-like gesture and often serially, to photographic artist portraits. This way, the same person may appear in different ways on the canvas, depending on the mood. It is above all the dreamlike atmosphere, which makes the works of the Japanese-Swiss artist so unique, that is also evident in the glass portrait heads of sleepers.
A.O.: R is the title of the new sculptural portrait by Thomas Zipp and stands for Abstract Object, on whose shoulders the artist places an aggressive rolling R like an angry pet, in the spirit of Dadaism: as if the work reflected our current situation. We are very happy to welcome so many “visitors”—in the form of paintings, photographs, and sculptures —and thank all participating artists for their contributions to this exhibition in particular, in these times of social distance.
The exhibition is sponsored by: NEUSTART KULTUR and Stiftung Kunstfonds
