AFTER NATURE/NACH DER NATUR

The cloudless sky, the immense movements of the sea, the vibrant colours of autumn leaves, sunlight or the human body, for example, are the starting point, inspiration or theme of the works in this exhibition. Nach der Natur / After Nature presents works by artists from the Schroth Collection. These pieces occupy powerful, singular realities with concentrated formal means while simultaneously possessing a close connection to reality.

Their creative means, such as reduced pictorial elements, a clear formal language, pure, often monochrome colours, and derived from logical concepts. They originate in the late 20th century for and through the process of liberation from the imitation of nature, i.e. the depiction of reality. In contemporary art, however, these pieces describe phenomena and processes of the real world.

Some artists use universal compositional means to depict specific, unique light, shape or dimensional conditions emanating from reality; others take observations of nature as inspiration and combine them with creative conception and mathematical construction; some uncover deeper truths and structures of our environment through their artistic interventions. At the same time, the works are present as realities in their own right.

After Nature examines the relationship between reality and work, nature, mankind and culture, and between universality and uniqueness, the foundational concept of non-objectivity in contemporary art is purposefully undermined.

With works by: Jill Baroff, Antje Blumenstein, Thomas Deyle, Inge Dick, Jean-François Dubreuil, Spencer Finch, James Howell, Yves Klein, Jean Legros, Mike Meiré, Charles-Albert Mudry, Burghard Müller-Dannhausen, Susan Morris, Reinoud Oudshoorn, Anton Quiring, Elisabeth Sonneck, Günther Uecker, Ignacio Uriarte, Jan van Munster, Pieter Vermeersch