ANSELM REYLE

Anselm Reyle is one of the most recognised and successful artists of his generation. The criteria for such success include his diversified methods of creation, a striving toward experimentation and self-realisation in very different styles. The famous German meticulousness and focus is evident in the execution of his works.

Recognition of the objects refined to the state of cliché and executed at the highest technological level is reached through analysis and reconsideration of the past epochs’ of art history, from early Abstraction (Otto Freundlich) to American minimalism and expressionism of the 1950-1960s (Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Jackson Pollock), and from shrilly monochromes by Yves Klein to ready-made objects by Marcel Duchamp.

Masterfully juggling between different styles and techniques, Reyle skillfully evades direct repetitions and creates his own lexicon, sometimes eclectic and perhaps kitsch, but absolutely relevant to our time. This lexicon is similar to the contemporary world with its superficiality and the triumph of brands and glamour–the world, where beauty and perfection of outer facades has become a total obsession, a social fetish.

Fortunately, the artist has a good sense of humour enabling him not to rest on his laurels but rather to treat things that he does with easiness and self-irony. Apart from sculptures and reliefs, the exposition includes sculptural sofas–found objects that he has provided with a new surface and sculptural quality. In this case Reyle cannot accept the former, centuries-long traditions of placing pictures over sofas. Reyle’s sofa, eclectically combining the elements of the ‘rich’ décor of the past with absurd kitsch elements of contemporary culture, is placed by the artist on the podium and presented as Monument to Sofa.

Born in Tubingen, Germany, in 1970, Anselm Reyle studied at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart and in Karlsruhe. Since 1997, he has been living and working in Berlin. Since 2009, he has held a post as professor at the Fine Arts Academy in Hamburg.

The artist has an impressive list of exhibitions in some of the most prestigious museums and gallery institutions in the world including: the Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble (2013), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012), Arken Museum, Denmark (2011), Kunsthalle Zurich (2006), etc.

His works are represented in high-reputed public and private collections, such as: Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; Sammlung Boros, Berlin; Pinault Collection, Venice; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj; Saatchi Gallery, London; Rubell Family Collection, Miami