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Thomas Schutte Exhibition Serpentine gallery

                                          
                                           Thomas Schütte(2012)

I went to see Thomas Schutte in Serpentine gallery, his work has been mainly based on portrait; he has done several self portrait, sculpture and photographs. The self portrait painting of ‘mirror drawing’ he experiments with not only water colour but with ink and crayon, although seen as a simply drawn, there is a sharp hesitant lines which gives out boldness in his eyes, in one of his water colour with him adding the colour red it makes the portrait look even livid and fearless because he just has half of the image, and even with just part of his face showing, the first thing we look at is eyes and it is as if his eyes are speaking all, and gives the portrait control. It also give the feeling of eye following you, or asking you question with the hitch of anger. ‘you don’t make art you find it’ as the word of schutte, explains he explore the means of representation and creating the space of accident to happen.  Self portrait could be taken as a way of showing persons inner self, their identity. His sculpture portrait on ‘Memorial for unknown artist 2011’ raises the issue of emotionally stimulated, yet self-reliant because of the both hands being included and as an artist your hands are the most significant. The sculpture also confers the meaning behind isolation, yet helpless, his eye makes it look like he is tired, and the beard ages sculpture making it look even more helpless and powerless.  His work ‘united enemies’ which schutte make in the early nineties, gives out the vibe of being dystopia in context to the distorted human form, these photographs also has sense of concern with human figure. His work has meaning of unknown power emerging in one, yet they have a glimpse of comical surface with poetic and dysfunctional figure, you get the feeling of the sculpture being yourself and the darker side of human nature, or it could be challenging the meaning behind life and death. Many of his work are like a art of surreal and as if being in a dystopian world, the world of imagination. Schutte shows the conceptual art to be imaginative at the same time meaningful and give out the feeling of trying to show the darker side of the human nature.

Thomas Schütte. (2012). Thomas Schütte: Faces & Figures Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London. Available: http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/thomas-sch%C3%BCtte-faces-figures. Last accessed 11th April 2014