Wilhelm Mundt

strictly fussel

September 2, 2016 – October 22, 2016

About

Wilhelm Mundt has taken a new route. For his exhibition strictly fussel at SCHÖNEWALD, the sculptor, who has been consistently developing his series of Trashstones since the 1980s, has now taken on the role of a painter and has incorporated this medium into five recent works. This move represents a small revolution for the sculptor, who, from the very beginning of his studies at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, had resolutely turned his back on painting to concentrate fully on his sculptural work.

After a minimalist phase, Wilhelm Mundt began developing his first Trashstones in the late 1980s. Anyone who has ever seen one of Wilhelm Mundt’s Trashstones will surely never forget it. These strange objects, which the sculptor prefers to describe as ‘clumps’, are reminiscent of boulders. Mundt forms his Trashstones from inorganic waste, which he ties together into compact forms and then covers in glass fibre. Recently, colour also comes into play in the composition of the works. In terms of content, the Cologne-based artist is less interested in issues such as ecology or sustainability, but rather much more in a concept revolving around the question of production and invention. For his exhibition at SCHÖNEWALD, Wilhelm Mundt also has other surprises in store. A video work from 2004/2016 will be presented, which, in a manner typical of the artist, bears the cryptic title …und gestern war heute Morgen (…and yesterday was this morning). The work is autobiographical and presents the artist in the work context. As the third innovation, Wilhelm Mundt is also exhibiting three large photographs under the title Schwarze Löcher (Black Holes), which are closely related to the Trashstones. 

The opening of the exhibition will take place in conjunction with the DC Open | Düsseldorf Cologne Open Galleries and is accompanied by a brochure featuring an interview with Wilhlem Mundt conducted by Christiane Hoffmans (German and English).

The artist himself on the creation of his works:
‘With the foam works I was making in the mid-1980s, I produced an incredible amount of excess material and didn’t know where to begin to get rid of it. My studio looked like a garbage dump. And then I thought: You have a real problem here; you need to find a solution. It soon became clear to me that something very exciting was about to happen, since my search for a solution to the waste problem led to something in my work that was unforeseeable.’


About the artist:
Wilhelm Mundt was born in Grevenbroich on 2 June 1959. From 1979 to 1986, he studied at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf under Tony Cragg, Klaus Rinke, and Irmin Kamp. In 1986, he received a working grant from Kunstfonds, Bonn. In 1989, he embarked on his series of Trashstones with stone no. 001. These works are comprised of inorganic waste, which he binds together with tape and glass fibre to form clumps. In 2007, he received the Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture from the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Since 2009, Wilhelm Mundt holds the seat of Professor for Sculpture at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.

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