11:00 - 18:00
Kassel Kunstverein, Friedrichplatz 18, 34117 Kassel
multiple daysRené Wagner
Pole Position
02.04. – 28.05.2023
opening: Saturday, 01.04.2023, 19 Clock
from 2. April to 28. May 2023 The Kasseler Kunstverein is showing the exhibition “Pole Position” by René Wagner in its reoccupied rooms in the Museum Fridericianum.
The exhibition space of the Kasseler Kunstverein is occupied by an approx. 3 meter high exhibition wall was cut, which, based on the example of Christopher Williams' exhibition architecture, reveals a huge vehicle. As an imposing sculpture, it divides the adjacent wall and wedges itself into the neighboring room. It stands in the way of exhibition visitors like an illegally parked car. There are recesses in their wall, in which illuminated exhibits can be seen. Wagner foregoes pedestal art in this exhibition. That's why his lacquered vases are screwed into the recessed niches in a kind of exhaust aesthetic. Die auffälligen Nieten auf der Ausstellungswand, die normalerweise an japanischen Autofelgen zu finden sind, hat Wagner eigens für die Ausstellung kommen lassen. Anleihen aus den Bosozoku Style Tunings werden sichtbar. Kunstvoll präparierte Felgen scheinen die Ausstellungswand zu tragen.
An ihr hängen Bilder, die aus blechdünnem Aluminium bestehen und mehrere Lackschichten haben, aber auch Leinwände, die in altmeisterlicher Manier grundiert und mehrfach lackiert wurden. In ihren leuchtenden Farben erinnern sie an die 90er Jahre-Hotwheels-Ästhetik.
Unter „Pole Position“ versteht Wagner die eigene Ausgangsposition als Chronist und genauer Beobachter. Die Tuningszene auf den Nachbardörfern seiner Heimatstadt Hildesheim hat ihn schon immer fasziniert. He captured them thousands of times with his camera while waiting at the bus stop.
In the passion and perseverance of people, who tune their cars and then present them in front of the bus stops outside the village in the evening, the artist sees a parallel to the art world, because she too is always looking for the greatest, most beautiful and successful work of art. Tuning scene in the barn versus art in the studio or. Tuning scene in the parking lot versus art in the exhibition room.
Wagner doesn't judge, but rather puts the obsessive attention and total perfection for every detail and the associated appreciation for the highly polished car on the same level as his grandma's art or Meissen porcelain, that was never allowed to be used and was on display in the closet. The need, to measure and optimize, seems to be mainly satisfied with superficial and highly polished surfaces.
Wagner combines these worlds with each other in his aluminum rim designed in Meissen porcelain look, which he also painted in a corresponding pattern.
His carefully painted objects refer to antiquity, when scenes from life were depicted on everyday objects such as vases. The, what Wagner depicts today, is primarily taken from the consumer world. His painted objects leave us with the uneasy feeling, to have fallen for their superficiality and to want to contradict the portrayal, because they torpedo what is familiar.
Womöglich spiegelt René Wagner unser Bedürfnis nach sogenannten Kostbarkeiten, die wir präsentieren, um uns selbst gegenüber anderen aufzuwerten. Als Besucher*in beschleicht uns das Unbehagen, dass die eigene Bewunderung oder das Bedürfnis nach Erhabenheit an beliebigen Objekten und Tätigkeiten festgemacht werden kann und unter Umständen lächerlich ist. Wagner hält uns einen Spiegel vor, das eigene Handeln und die Selbstverliebtheit womöglich in Frage zu stellen.
Wenn es nach René Wagner geht, ist die Pole Position nicht der Startplatz für ein Wettrennen, sondern die Reflexion der eigenen Haltung.
René Wagner (*1983) lebt und arbeitet in Kassel.
Er hat Bildende Kunst an der Kunsthochschule Kassel studiert.
Opening times
Tuesday Sunday & holidays 11 – 18 Clock
Thursday 11 – 20 Clock
entry
5€ / 3€ reduced
Mittwochs freier Eintritt
Mitglieder des Kasseler Kunstvereins und Studierende mit Kulturticket: Free admission