Thomas Schütte

Description

German artist Thomas Schütte (b.1954) is concerned with models for living, rules for making art and, in turn, the failed flights of these systems and aspirations. Schütte’s art looks utilitarian – offering shelter, sustenance and companionship – but delivers false promises and alien worlds such as his museum that incinerates art, potatoes made of bronze and the artist’s vision of humanity as tiny wooden audiences, two-headed hybrids or giant robotic figures.

Schütte’s sculptures vary in scale from giant candy-coloured fruits to miniature fairy-tale buildings. The artist manipulates size, materials and subject matter with astounding versatility and dexterity, perpetually shifting scales so that the viewer is immersed in a series of poetic yet dysfunctional utopias. He has also constructed a series of architectural models of institutions and monuments whose eclectic array of building typologies suggest de Chirico-like metaphysical spaces.

Schütte’s sculptures, installations, photographs and watercolours have been exhibited in museums and galleries as well as in public commissions throughout Europe and America. This book, which accompanied the first major survey of Schütte’s work in Britain (Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1998) remains the essential monograph on the work of this enigmatic and extraordinary artist.

Julian Heynen, Director of Exhibitions at the Krefeld Art Museums, who curated Schütte’s first museum exhibition in 1986, charts a topography of media and subject matter in the artist’s work. James Lingwood, Co-Director of Artangel, London, and curator of the 1998 Schütte survey at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, speaks with the artist about the development of his practice and his relationship to European sculptural traditions in a German context. Italian art critic and curator Angela Vettese focuses on the artist’s contribution to the 1997 Skulptur Projekte in Munster, Kirschensaule (Cherry Column). Schütte has selected a passage by the Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca from ‘De Vita Beata’ on the paths of happiness. The artist’s own writings are represented by a bedtime story, a fantastical allegory of the art world and its unexpected sequel.

Julian Heynen is Director of Exhibitions at the Krefeld Art Museums and presented Schütte’s first museum show in 1986. Heynen writes extensively on modern and contemporary art.

James Lingwood is a writer and curator of Schütte’s first survey exhibition in Britain. He is Co-Director of Artangel, London, and his many publications include The Epic and the Everyday (1994), Rachel Whiteread’s House (Phaidon, 1995) and Juan Muñoz, Monologues and Dialogues (1996).

Angela Vettese is a Milan-based critic and curator. She is Professor of Art History at the Carrera Academy in Bergamo. Her many catalogue texts include Piero Manzoni (1994) and John Cage (1993), and she is the author of Capire l’artecontemporanea (1996).

“An illuminating book.”—The Times

“A substantial monograph on one of Germany’s most prominent artists.”—The Art Book

On the Contemporary Artists Series

“The boldest, best executed, and most far-reaching publishing project devoted to contemporary art. These books will revolutionize the way contemporary art is presented and written about.”—Artforum

“The combination of intelligent analysis, personal insight, useful facts and plentiful pictures is a superb format invaluable for specialists but also interesting for casual readers, it makes these books a must for the library of anyone who cares about contemporary art.”—Time Out

“A unique series of informative monographs on individual artists.”—The Sunday Times

“Gives the reader the impression of a personal encounter with the artists. Apart from the writing which is lucid and illuminating, it is undoubtedly the wealth of lavish illustrations which makes looking at these books a satisfying entertainment.”—The Art Book

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