PRESS RELEASE
Margaret Thatcher Projects is pleased to present Potpourri, a solo-exhibition of sculptures by Munich-based artists Venske & Spänle. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, May 6, from 6-8 PM, and continue through Saturday, June 10. The artist duo works primarily with pure-white, Lasa marble, hand-carved into globular, plasticine characters that delight their environment.
Taking visual and conceptual inspiration from the tradition of marble statuary, sci-fi, and animation, the artists consider interactions between object, site, and audience. The humorously biomorphic sculptures often interact with quotidian objects, such as the mop in Leifhert, or the mousetrap in In der Falle, imagining them occupying our human world as alien beings. When acting independently of objects, the marble carvings spring forth from the pedestal, drip down the walls, or splat onto the floor. The techniques employed reflect Venske & Spänle's long career of site-specific exhibitions and installations, a practice that has spread their alien creatures to all continents, save Antarctica.
The fleshy folds and gestures the artists are able to pull from stone fascinate and confound. From a cold and static state, the marble is transformed into a vital and sensual materiality that appears to stretch, ripple, and coagulate. Imbued with a distinctive personality, the sculptures have an almost pet-like quality; they are mischievous or curious, frightened or antsy, full of an activity and quality of motion uncommon for the usually-austere medium.
Materially, the sculptures harken back to a storied tradition of carved marble, calling to mind Greco-Roman statues and classical, figurative renderings. Yet, through their post-modern awareness of site, cartoonish humor, and incorporation of the ready-made, the sculptures are made distinctively contemporary. The resultant figures bring levity to the mundane, incepting their environment with whimsical joy.
Venske & Spänle is the moniker for the artists Julia Venske (b.1971, Berlin) and Gregor Spänle (b. 1969, Munich). The artists live and work in Munich, and have exhibited their work worldwide in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Museum exhibitions include the Aldrich Museum, Public installations of their work include Myzot Nachtwächter in Incheon, South Korea, Smörfs in Aubing, Quivid München, Nachtwächter in Zug, and Autoeater in Querceta, Italy, Autoeater Atlanta, GA, and Gumpfoten in Sendling, Quivid München.