Michael Krebber: The Living Wedge

Michael Krebber (1954, Cologne, Germany) is one of the most influential contemporary painters working today. Having had a major influence in the Cologne art scene during the 1980s and 1990s, and as a prominent teacher at the Städelschule, in Frankfurt, Krebber´s approach to the medium of painting remains a central reference in contemporary art. The work he has produced over the last three decades arguably constitutes a set of responses to a problem called “painting,” persistent in its fascination, obdurate in its delayed resolution.

This exhibition at the Serralves Museum presents a selection of over 100 works since the 1980s from numerous private and institutional collections across Europe, the UK and the US. The numerous paintings, drawings, and sculptures on view range from hesitations and disavowals, to a variety of motifs and gestures by turns emphatic, arresting or ironic—sometimes at the same time. The exhibition traces as much a line of interested convictions, as a recursive arc of starts, fits, and restarts, repetitions and murmurs, presented alongside arresting and moving gestures. Working with the continual exhaustion, withdrawal, engagement, and renewal of painting, Krebber´s work is deeply imbedded in its history and materials, remaining a central reference in the conversation around painting’s continued relevance.

Michael Krebber: The Living Wedge is organized by the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Bern, and is curated by João Ribas, Deputy Director and Senior Curator of the Museum with Valérie Knoll, Director of Kunsthalle Bern.

A programme of public discussions is planned to run over the course of the exhibition.
A two-volume publication will be produced on the occasion of the exhibition, featuring texts by Joao Ribas, Valérie Knoll and Manfred Hermes, and designed by HIT Studio, Berlin.

For further information and image requests, please contact Marta Morais, m.morais [​at​] serralves.pt.

About the artist
Michael Krebber has been a teacher at the Städelschule, in Frankfurt, since 2002. He had frequently collaborated with artists Martin Kippenberger, Kai Althoff, and Albert Oehlen. Recently, Krebber has had solo exhibitions at Greene Naftali, New York (2015); Galerie Buchholz, Berlin (2014); Maureen Paley, London (2013); CAPC Musée d’art Contemporain, Bordeaux (2012); and Richard Telles Fine Arts, Los Angeles (2010). His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux; and Museum Brandhorst, Munich. He was awarded the Wolfgang Hahn Prize by the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, in 2015. Michael Krebber lives and works in New York. 

About Serralves
The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art is the foremost museum for contemporary art in Portugal, and one of Europe’s most renowned institutions for contemporary art and culture. Uniquely sited on the grounds of the Serralves Foundation, which also comprises a park and the Serralves Villa, a landmark art deco building, the Museum designed by Álvaro Siza opened in 1999. Through its exhibitions, collection, publications, performing arts, and public programmes, the Museum fosters the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art and culture in Portugal and around the world.