Katharina Fritsch: Heart with Wheat
Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago
March 3 - May 27, 2001
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, presents an installation created especially for the Museum by German artist KATHARINA FRITSCH.
Heart with Wheat (2000), presented in the MCA's second floor Bergman Gallery, consists of 40,000 greenish-gold aluminum multiples formed in the shape of shafts of wheat and configured to form an enormous heart, 45-feet in diameter. Sitting directly on the floor, the work resembles a literal field, creating an environment that relates to landscape and minimalist sculpture. The exhibition is curated by James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator Elizabeth Smith.
Recognized as one of Germany's most prominent artists to emerge during the past 20 years, Katharina Fritsch works in a variety of media, but is best known for her meticulously crafted sculptures that are inspired by both mass culture and high art sources. Katharina Fritsch's work gives form to images with associations rooted in American culture, while challenging the viewers' understanding of the meanings of those images.
"Heart with Wheat is dramatic, even overpowering in scale, while singularly commingling the representational and abstract to crystallize an idea, experience, or memory completely," said Elizabeth Smith. "Most importantly, it reveals Fritsch's ongoing quest to find new forms for old symbols."
Katharina Fritsch has recently created other works based on the heart shape. Herz mit Zahnen (Heart with Teeth) (1998), is made up of molars cast in red plastic, juxtaposing the warm symbol of the heart with threatening teeth. Herz mit Geld (Heart with Money) (1998-99), consists of artificial silver coins, producing a different effect as it shimmers in the light. In Heart with Wheat (2000), the golden wheat raises the concept of everyday objects-in this case staple foods-being reflected upon and transformed into works of art.
KATHARINA FRITSCH was born in Essen, Germany, in 1956 and studied at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf under sculptor Fritz Schwegler. In 1995, Fritsch-alongside Thomas Ruff and Martin Honert-was chosen to represent Germany in the Venice Biennale. In 1996, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented a retrospective of her work. She has also presented solo exhibitions at venues such as Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London; DIA Center for the Arts, New York; Ludwigforum, Aachen; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; and White Cube, London, and has been represented in numerous group exhibitions. Katharina Fritsch lives and works in Düsseldorf.
An accompanying 32-page full-color catalogue with an essay by James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator Elizabeth Smith is available.
MCA - MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, CHICAGO
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