Ellen de Bruijne

Thomas Rentmeister

01 Mar - 19 Apr 2014

© Thomas Rentmeister
untitled, 2013
cast iron, duvet, duvet cover
approx. 17 x 355 x 210 cm
photo: Bernd Borchardt
THOMAS RENTMEISTER
A Product of Rest and Unrest*
1 March - 19 April 2014

Ellen de Bruijne Projects is pleased to present the fourth solo exhibition of Thomas Rentmeister in the gallery, in which the artist made a selection of new and recent works.
According to Christoph Schreier, Thomas Rentmeister has a strong connection to minimalism, but in a sense also to pop art or nouveau realisme. Considering the stacks in clean geometrical forms, he is referring to minimalism. However the products of which he is forming the stacks are familiar to us, they might even smell familiar. In that sense he is also referring to pop art or nouveau realisme, which created the specific descriptions of his work as “Minimalpop” or “impure” or “dirty” minimalism.

In the new work packets of chocolate biscuits are forming a geometrical triangle. A row of paper handkerchiefs are chosen for their colour and size: they perfectly fit on the metal wall piece. A duvet is spread out like a big blank piece of paper. The brown furniture pillow and rake form a contrast with the white duvet. These colours (unconsciously) are reminiscent of his earlier work with the nutella spread and Penaten baby crème. Every item Thomas Rentmeister uses in his installations are (temporarily) placed out of order and put into a new order. They are pulled out of their daily function.

By choosing and using familiar objects, Rentmeister also appeals to the visitor’s memory of the objects. Almost everyone has eaten a Prince chocolate biscuit, or uses paper handkerchiefs, or sleeps under a duvet. By taking them out of context, the visitor is invited to use his imagination in an attempt to solve the tension between his own memories, the newly proposed metaphors and meanings of the objects.

Thomas Rentmeister will also be presented by the gallery at Art Cologne booth E014, in a duo show with Klaas Kloosterboer, from the 10th until the 13th of April 2014.
The new acquired work by Thomas Rentmeister will be on view in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen from March 2014 on.

* org. Hannes Böhringer in cat. Thomas Rentmeister. Objects. Food. Rooms. Kunstmuseum Bonn/Perth Institite of Contemporary Arts, Dumont Buchverlag Köln, 2011, p. 111
 

Tags: Klaas Kloosterboer, Thomas Rentmeister