Fritz Schwegler
von Breech Das unbewegliche Theater (The Immobile Theatre)
28 August – 14 November 2004
Kunsthalle Dusseldorf
Press conference: Friday, August 27, 2004, 11 a.m.
Opening: Friday, August, 27, 2004, 7 p.m.
Kunsthalle Dusseldorf
Grabbeplatz 4,
D-40213 Dusseldorf
Tel: +49 (0)211 89 962 56
Fax: +49 (0)211 89 291 68
presse [at] kunsthalle-duesseldorf.de
The Kunsthalle Dusseldorf presents an exhibition comprising a substantial cross-section from the extensive oeuvre of Fritz Schwegler (born 1935), winner of this year’s Kunstpreis des Kuratoriums der Kunststoff-Industrie (Art Prize of the Counsellors’ Board of the Plastics Industry).
Veteran of two documenta exhibitions (1972 and 1987), Schwegler defies stylistic categorization. The Emeritus Professor for Sculpture at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf has been drawing, painting and singing, casting, writing and sculpting for more than five decades now. He derives his inspiration from the superficially everyday world; his materials are the impressions and experiences that the world has bestowed upon him.
Fritz Schwegler, a qualified carpenter, embarked upon a trip around the world between 1955 and 1959, discovering Europe, Asia Minor and Africa. Following his qualification as master craftsman, he pursued studies in sculpture at institutions in Stuttgart and London, culminating in his professorship at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf (1975-2001). In between times he is always taking off on his travels. By what he sees and experiences Fritz Schwegler is spurred on to add a further layer of possibilities to the world. It is from this rich source of ideas – carefully catalogued and numbered – that he is able to create a seemingly encyclopaedic abundance of texts, drawings and sculptures, which are frequently recombined, producing complex metaphors.
Fritz Schwegler’s works fundamentally question the apparently unambiguous conceptuality of things. In so doing, his simple pictorial objects diverge from the real only inasmuch as we can still perceive them as possible variants of or supplements to things we already know. The details of his creations are the result of precise observation and analysis of the everyday world and, as such, are immediately intelligible to us. It is only when the diverse elements are combined, both linguistically and pictorially, that a code is created, which in turn compels the observer to reflect upon them repeatedly.
The exhibition “The Immobile Theatre” catalogues significant stages of Fritz Schwegler’s development. The Kunsthalle will be populated and enlivened by his creations for almost three whole months; small-scale sculptures will be presented in conjunction with evidence from the early action pieces, as well as Schwegler’s idiosyncratic, textually knitted drawings and picture tableaus. The creative genius and lovingly awkward style of his language permeates his work right down to the invented names of particular exhibits, bearing such titles as “Erscheinungsmasznahmen”, “Seezungen-Fortsetzungen” or “Abulvenz” characterizing his subtle linguistic transmogrifications.
Fritz Schwegler has realised a special artistic composition for the so-named Kinosaal: a frieze taken from the relatively unknown “Gotteszeller Schnitte” will traverse the walls. These works (in A5 format) originated in the 1960s as a formal experiment on the scope of composition and will provide four motifs, which will “occupy” the high wall in the Kinosaal in the form of large-size aluminium cuts. In this way the observer is granted a new and surprising perspective of Fritz Schwegler’s multi-dimensional universe.
A two volume catalogue on the exhibition in the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf will be published by the Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Press conference: Friday, August 27, 2004, 11 a.m.
Opening: Friday, August, 27, 2004, 7 p.m.
Opening hours are Tue-Sat: noon-7 p.m., Sundays and public holidays: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
The exhibition and catalogue are generously sponsored by the Kuratorium der Kunststoff-Industrie.
At the same time in the Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf: Josef Kramholler