Tobias Spichtig

Tobias Spichtig’s artistic practice is based on the direct experience of the material. I’m afraid I don’t know how to explain all this. is the first presentation of the artist’s work in a museum and assembles both new and existing works. The constellations put together by Spichtig represent a dramaturgy of things which can be physical, digital or verbal in origin. Painting, sculpture and performance merge into a single oeuvre. In its execution in terms of materials, shapes and gestures, the artist’s work reveals a pragmatism that is a reaction to the situational circumstances of his direct environment. The motifs in Spichtig’s pictures – for example, sunglasses enlarged to monumental proportions – reference, amongst other things, the codes of popular culture prevalent in the 1990s, but cannot, however, be placed either in a specific media context or in terms of content. They reflect, not least, the strategies and structures of Spichtig’s own network, which is anchored in the worlds of art, music and fashion. Their references to everyday life, to communication and to both the public and the intimate spheres are sometimes modified by exaggeration or oversizing, which changes the way they are perceived. A theatre of material is created. Seated on used sofas, assembled via eBay, in front of large-format paintings – vinyl prints of digital photos and oil on unprimed canvas – the viewer can immerse himself in the presence of the material.