Sebastian Gögel
12/07/2008 t/m 05/10/2008
It is no accident that this first ever museum solo exhibition by young German artist Sebastian Gögel (b. 1978, Thuringia) is being held at the GEM. The Gemeentemuseum, right next door, spotted his talent as far back as 2006 and immediately acquired three of his paintings. A year later, it added two sculptures, both depicting sinister creatures typical of Gögel’s humorous visual idiom. The GEM now presents a powerful selection of paintings, sculptures and drawings, each of which present the world as a weird and gloomy place, full of insecurity and conflict.
Although Sebastian Gögel’s art represents a world of his imagination governed by its own rules, that universe sometimes comes very close to the one we know. His energetic paintings and drawings introduce us to formless bodies stripped of their skin, with widely spaced eyes and elongated noses. These bizarre creatures are invariably located in confusing spaces: some sort of cavern in which every move is uncertain. The interactions between his characters are all charged with a peculiar kind of tension familiar to us from situations in contemporary life imbued with a constant – if less extreme – sense of rivalry. Gögel uses his vigorous brushwork to render the resulting fear and destruction.
His 2006 painting Feuer bitte (‘Light please’) is a good illustration of his - sometimes apocalyptic – choice of subjects. The simple gesture of offering a light to another smoker is transformed into an act of expectation and projection and presents the striven-after advantage on the part of the giver and the aggressive smugness of the taker. Another good example is the painting entitled Universalsammler (‘Universal Collector’) in which Gögel depicts the art collector as a vast monster: an implied criticism of the explosive growth of the international contemporary art market over the last ten years.
Despite the social criticism evident in his choice of subjects, Gögel’s works are full of humour. His aluminium sculpture entitled Figur (‘Figure’) is a good example. In contrast to his usually boisterous paintings, it is devoid of all detail. An ill-defined life form seems to be melting away entirely, pulled down by the forces of gravity which will ultimately defeat it: a pitiful but also witty image that encompasses a subtle reference to climate change.
Those who attended the DLD Collection exhibition held last year at the Gemeentemuseum will realise that, however individual Sebastian Gögel’s approach to painting and sculpture, his work cannot be viewed in isolation from the German tradition. It displays a considerable likeness to that of Georg Grosz (1893 – 1959) and Otto Dix (1891 – 1969), two artists whose paintings also exposed the seamy side of modern life.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to purchase a booklet containing an essay by Maik Schlϋter (price: €15). A new publication authored by Doede Hardeman is scheduled for late summer. In addition, especially for this occasion, Sebastian Gögel has produced an edition of ten unique drawings. Like the two publications, these will be on sale in the museum shop (Price €400).
