feAture Thomas schuTTe
One of the most
brought to mind Henry Moore and Aristide Maillol, stretching their
classical beauty to a point of porcine revulsion. One of the most
striking aspects of Schütte’s practice is its diversity: a proper list
striking aspects of
of the genres he has worked in should also include painting and
printmaking; sculpture, both of the symbolic variety (the rusty Mann
im Matsch – Man in Mud – 1982–5), of a figure atop three interlocking
Schütte’s practice is its
circles, and kitsch (such as Kirschensaule, two bright-red cherries
atop a column, which he showed at Skulptur Projekte Münster in
1997); and real-scale pavilions and buildings. In a short piece called
diversity: a proper
Bedtime Story (1993), he imagines the end of art, and finds out that
life goes on. In fact, it does not only go on, but multiplies and grows
in thick intensity. Parents develop a special sense of hearing to listen
list of the genres he
better to their children, young couples fall in love easily – and make
it abundantly. The kernel of doubt about art’s validity and relation to
real life that was apparent in Schütte’s early works now infiltrates his
has worked in should
entire practice, which continually tacks upwind.
In an interview with Artangel co-director James Lingwood,
Schütte said, ‘I would play the piano if I could – each time you play
include painting,
a piece, it’s slightly different.’ Though his work is wide-ranging, it
is full of reiteration: maquette after maquette, figure after figure,
manifold variations on a core number of themes. His model for the
printmaking, sculpture,
Fourth Plinth, an architectural structure in three parts, is familiar, with
its clean Bauhaus lines and the Perspex that has been increasingly
cropping up in his models. Though the allusion to the Bauhaus and
pavilions and buildings
its utopian pretensions is ironic, the bright colours of the sculpture’s
grids will be a welcome sight in Trafalgar Square. Following its title,
Model for a Hotel, in deadpan, the 5-metre-high structure offers 21
storeys in the back part of the building, a lobby and another 8-storey
horizontal block cantilevered over the plinth: room enough for a
visiting flock of seagulls, or a group of starlings with especially good
taste. Its working titles were For the Birds and Hotel for the Birds, and
in groupie fashion I like those better. They summarised the updated
version of Pascal’s wager that guides Schütte: even if art is just for
the birds, we might as well make somewhere nice for them to come
home to roost in.
Thomas Schütte: Early Work is on view at the Henry Moore Institute,
Leeds, until 6 January; Model for a Hotel can be seen on the Fourth
Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London, until mid-2009. See Listings, page
118, for further information
Works
(In order of appearance)
background: Grosse Tapeten
(Large Wallpaper Hangings), 1975
foreground: Schiff (Ship), 1980–1
konrad fischer Galerie, düsseldorf
background: Ringe (Rings), 1981
foreground: Schiff (Ship), 1980–1
konrad fischer Galerie, düsseldorf
left: Mauer Bilder (Brick Pictures), 1977
gouache on paper
right: Grosse Mauer (Large Bricks), 1977
oil paint on wood
Lager (Store), 1978
wooden board, paint, varnish
all photos: Jerry Hardman-Jones
Model of Model for a Hotel, 2007
© the artist. photo: stephen White
71 Artreview
Thomas Schutte.indd 71 2/11/07 15:16:15
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