
"INNEN | AUSSEN" by Reinhard Voss and Andreas Wachter
16.09. - 11.11.2023
Gottfried Böhm regarded the face as the "Schnittstelle" (transl. interface, gateway) between inside and outside, as the seat of the most important perceptive faculties: the eye, the ear, the sense of speech, the sense of smell and taste. With the face, we encounter the world head-on, i.e. confrontationally and dialogically. From our face, our inner self moves as a centre and seeks out the surrounding world. The two positions of the artists Reinhard Voss and Andreas Wachter take up this phenomenon in their work and open up a new space for dialogues between inside and outside.
Reinhard Voss works with conifers, which give the relief bodies a dynamic structure. We feel a force emanating from the bodies - reminiscent of the physical centrifugal force that leads from the centre of the works outwards into the room. As outsiders, we remain in an observing role, which allows us to get to know the relief bodies in a special way.
Reserved, almost introverted and yet full of graceful posture, suggested faces "look" out of themselves into the surrounding space. The compositional gluing together of the fragments to form a structural structure harbours a unique tension. On the surface of these figures, geometric shapes and patterns of textiles - which blend in like tattoos - are mixed with the natural grain of the wood. Nothing is left to chance. The tension reaches its climax in the attempt to breathe new meaning into the once living material. In the dead wood an imitation of life: here something shows itself in a new, unusual light!
Reinhard Voss (Rendsburg/Schleswig-Holstein) studied sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe with Hiromi Akiyama and Stephan Balkenhol. A freelance artist since 2000, Reinhard Voss' portraits have been shown in highly acclaimed exhibitions in Germany and abroad, such as Basel, Seoul and Paris, and are part of renowned art collections. The artist lives and works in Ettlingen.
As a counter-position, Andreas Wachter presents new paintings with a convincing pull. Our face seems to be almost sucked into his scenes, which are rich in contrast and mystically charged. Here, a force works towards the centre of the work, making us leave the observing role and step into participation. With the help of the old-masterly technique of chiaroscuro from the Baroque and Mannerist periods, the artist lends the groups of people depicted in them a contrasting depth and thus a conspiratorial as well as restrained theatricality. Suggested ghosts, faces looking straight ahead or completely veiled, seem to be waiting to pronounce their judgement and prophesy the future. The permanent absence, the non-saying, the dramatic mood, the art-historical motifs mixed with contemporary elements lead to the search for a new identity. The centripetal force of Wachter's mixed-media paintings takes us on a journey into the innermost and thus acts as a gateway to a world all of its own.
Andreas Wachter (1951*, Chemnitz) studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig from 1974 to 1980 with Arno Rink and Volker Stelzmann. He is considered one of the most important representatives of his generation of the Leipzig School. Wachter's works are represented, among others, in the Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig, the National Gallery Poznan, the Pushkin Museum Moscow and the State Gallery Stuttgart.
Main Artists of the GALLERY SUPPER
Tino Geiss I Rayk Goetze I Andreas Lau I Mike MacKeldey I Katharina Meister I Roland Schauls
Monika Thiele I Patricia Thoma I Andreas Wachter I Anja Warzecha I Sebastian Wehrle