Wilhelm Mundt is a contemporary German sculptor best known for his 'Trashstones', an ongoing series of biomorphic sculptures comprising artistic waste or found objects from the artist's studio coated in layers of material—usually glass-fibre reinforced plastic—bringing both waste and industrial processes into an artistic context. The series contains 750 stones to date.
Read MoreMundt was born in Grevenbroich, Germany. He studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between 1979 and 1986, where he also began teaching in 1989. Since 2009, Mundt has held a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden.
Wilhelm Mundt is best known for his ongoing 'Trashstones' series. Made from studio debris and found objects cocooned within smooth layers, typically of plastic or resin, Mundt's Trashstones test the distinction between art and everyday life, drawing industrial processes and materials into an artistic context to reflect on both consumer culture and the long tradition of sculpture.
Mundt began his Trashstones in 1989 with Trashstone 001, setting off the intended series and the meticulous consecutive numbering of each stone, alluding to industrial serial production processes. Taking rubbish, studio waste, and sometimes found objects such as pieces of wood, parts of old sculptures, televisions, coffee machines, and personal items, Mundt begins with an inner core of waste. He then coats the 'stone' with multiple layers of material such as plastic, resin, aluminium or bronze, labelling each one with a serial number. He has also documented his Trashstones in musical performances and films.
Varying widely in size, colour, and finish, each Trashstone is unique, their form dictated by the shape of the material within. They range in size from knee-height forms to imposing outdoor installations, the largest being Trashstone 412, which weighs a tonne. Trashstone 515 (2011) is a lumpen form coated with a shiny, bright blue glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GRP), with specks of green and purple that resemble archipelagos in a vast sea. Trashstone 673 (2017) is a rounded mass covered in bronze with a matte black patina, evoking a heaviness that belies its diminutive form.
By bringing both waste and industrial methods into the process of artistic production, Mundt troubles the distinction between art and everyday life, aligning him with traditions of Process and Conceptual art as represented by artists such as Joseph Beuys or Roman Signer. Commenting on the tradition of sculpture itself, Mundt's Trashstones undermine the notion of sculpture as the result of either an additive or subtractive process by instead using the act of recycling as the very means of their production. Mundt's aluminium Trashstones, including Trashstone 722 (2019), expand upon the iterative nature of his process; Trashstone 722, in fact, consists of another polished Trashstone sitting within an aluminium shell, reiterating the logic by which his polished stones are formed.
In 2007, Mundt was awarded the Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture from the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Wilhelm Mundt has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions include: Wilhelm Mundt, Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal (2022); Jetzt Nicht, with Michael Jäger, St. Petri Church, Lübeck (2012); Wilhelm Mundt: Trashstones, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2010); Wilhelm Mundt: Trashstones, Kunsthalle Ziegelhütte, Appenzell (2007).
Group exhibitions include: Traum von Natur, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf (2020); Biomorph!, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen (2011); Abstract Confusion, Kunstverein Ulm (2011).
Alena Kavka | Ocula | 2022
