Thomas Schütte

One of the most acclaimed artists of his generation, Thomas Schütte’s real and invented forms, often distorted and unsettling, explore themes of cultural memory, struggle and the impossible utopian ideal. The past and present of the history of sculpture collide in the artist’s work. His motifs, which look seriously at the human condition, find their form in expressive physiognomies and typologies. He modulates these repeatedly and, as in this exhibition, tests a wide variety of materials, scales and dimensions. He explores and re-explores similar themes and imagery over time, leaving one series behind only to rework it later. The results are extensive series of works that reinvigorate figurative sculpture and update its classic subjects in the context of contemporary issues.

As viewers enter the exhibition, they encounter Nixe (2021), an enormous bronze mermaid who appears to be gazing into the sky. Her optimistic, upward-reaching form hails from the same fantastic realm as many of Schütte’s other monumental figures. Nixe kindles in the viewer’s imagination a range of possible narratives, setting the tone for the rest of the exhibition, which features a cast of figures in two mediums: ceramics and glass. Next to Nixe, the tilted head of Frauenkopf, implodiert (2020) offers a contrast to the uplifting presence of the mermaid, and as the viewer enters the gallery they will encounter an array of characters, each with a distinctive mood or expression. Enhanced by the Fake Flags (2018) on the walls, the works interact with each other to create a dynamic, open-ended conversation.

The lower gallery features a range of sculptures in glass. In a tightly organised line atop narrow plinths, the Guter Geist (2021) inhabit the space like colourful sprites. The recumbent heads You 24 and Me 24 (2018) have a peaceful yet melancholy presence, while Frauenkopf, halb and Männerkopf, halb (both 2022) have a severe dignity. The three Urne (2020) look at once futuristic and ancient – mysterious vessels that may have some practical function. Nearby, the Gartenzwerge (Serie Z) [Garden Gnomes] (2017) rest on the wooden table with a playful intensity.

Schütte has been working with his Old Friends for 30 years. During a sojourn in Rome in 1992, the artist created his United Enemies and Innocenti series of heads to reflect the political tumult of the time. Yet as the present era makes manifest, the absurd figure of masculine authority is perennially relevant. From Roman busts of gods and emperors, to Goya’s uneasy depictions of Spanish nobility and the heads of the sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, the male figure of power will always be a fertile ground for satire. The figures in Old Friends have a theatrical presence, inhabiting the gallery as observers or commentators. The coloured glazes imbue the heads with a florid, almost flamboyant appearance, seeming to contradict their authority. As with so much of his ceramic work, Schütte conjures a set of paradoxes: authority versus absurdity, beautiful surfaces concealing uneasy depths, and chance-inspired artistic processes alongside the mastery of craft.

Geister (‘ghosts’ or ‘spirits’) are a recurring theme in Schütte’s sculpture. Ranging from giant spiralling forms in polished aluminium and steel to smaller works in glass, their lumpy limbs gesticulate in vain. In this exhibition six new disembodied ghost heads rest on top of slender steel pillars. Made in different colours and patterns of Murano Glass, they seem to exist somewhere between abstraction and figuration. Schutte’s ethereal creations possess an independence that leaves their mysterious and indeterminate facial expressions open to interpretation.

Urns are another form that re-appear in Schutte’s practice. Sometimes they appear as monumental ceramic vessels, grouped together to evoke family members; here they appear in coloured glass, perhaps calling to mind objects of mourning or acts of remembrance. The vessels remain notably empty, the translucent glass emphasising their simultaneously functional and decorative status.

Gartenzwerge or ‘Garden Gnomes’ are objects with a distinct German history, originally adopted by wealthy Europeans for decoration and now widely mass-produced. Schütte has repeatedly adopted and reinterpreted the form, at times appearing as large-scale ceramics but here playfully rendered in richly coloured glass. Taking on a distinctly architectural configuration, Gartenzwerge (Serie Z) is clustered together to create what might be considered a family group.