Wolfgang Laib
Where the Land and Water Ends
Buchmann Galerie, Cologne
January 31 - March 24, 2004
The Buchmann Gallery presents Where the Land and Water Ends, Wolfgang Laib’s first large installation work in black and vermillion red thitsi lacquer from Burma (Myanmar).
In 2002, having previously worked with selected materials such as pollen, milk, beeswax, marble, rice and sealing wax, Wolfgang Laib created his first thitsi lacquer sculptures, which were exhibited by Buchmann gallery during Art Basel 2002.
Upon entering the vast lacquer chamber in Cologne, the visitor is immediately captivated by the power of the work. The room allows for an experience the like of which often seems foreign to us in this day and age. In the diffuse light and concentrated stillness there arises a fascinating sense of bewilderment about the ineffable and inexplicable nature of our being.
In 1975 Wolfgang Laib (born 1950) created the first milk stones, in 1977 he collected his first pollen, in 1983 he worked with rice for the first time, in 1987 with beeswax and in 2002 with thitsi lacquer. Wolfgang Laib never quite completes any of his group of works. They stand side-by-side, equal in weight and in worth. In this way the artist is not concerned with innovation or formal further development but with continuity. His work is marked by shapes and materials which repeat themselves in regular cycles.
For many years Wolfgang Laib has belonged to that group of German artists who are consistently valued and held in high esteem both at home and abroad. At the start of 2003, a retrospective toured five museums in the USA and culminated in an exhibition, notable both for its size and success, in Munich’s Haus der Kunst. A comprehensive retrospective is currently touring Asia’s most important museums. Major works by Wolfgang Laib are featured in, among others, the collections of MoMA New York, the De Pont Foundation in Tilburg, the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart and the Kunstmuseum in Bonn.
BUCHMANN GALERIE
Aachener Strasse 65, 50674 Cologne
Related Post: Wolfgang Laib: Nowhere-Everywhere, Sperone Westwater, New York (1998)
