17 Jun 2014

Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie: Fred Thieler exhibition

Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie is pleased to present the second major retrospective of the internationally renowned artist Fred Thieler, on view from April 26 through August 22, 2014. The exhibition 'Fred Thieler. Intuition of painting – works from five decades' includes important works from all periods of the artist, who was born in 1916 in Königsberg and died in 1999 in Berlin.

Fred Thieler is one of the most prominent protagonists of the German post-war abstraction movement 'Informel'. He created unpredictable works, intuitive and committed to an inner law. There was no task, no plan or prior idea but full freedom of expression to the unforeseen quality of materials and randomness of gestures. His work demonstrates the importance of the interaction between artist and material, showing the artist´s demand to trigger emotional reactions in the viewer. In general, his works cannot be ascribed to a single style, but they all show an impressive approach to a non-objective art, just following the artist´s emotions.
Thieler became a member of the artist group ZEN 49, founded in 1949, to which belonged, inter alia, Willi Baumeister, Rupprecht Geiger, K.R.H. Sonderborg and Fritz Winter.

Our exhibition starts with works from the 1950s. During this period Thieler created the so-called 'scraper pictures'. Spectacular and dynamic colour arrangements are dominating the early work of the artist. Among these, the work 'O.G. I/56' (1956, oil on cardboard on plywood, 95.7 x 68 cm) can be seen as an example, which - in a certain way - still was committed to a structure. In order to follow up on his strong need for a violent ductus, Thieler started to work with a spatula on the image´s surface.
Another highlight of the exhibition includes the small format 'O.b. 57' (1957, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm) where pastose strokes in predominantly yellow and black are building a dynamic composition.

Similar energies can be found within the work 'BR. S/63' (1963, mixed media on canvas, 190 x 130 cm). Again the spiritual urgency of the artist is expressed particularly clear. He took the canvas off the easel, laid it down on the floor, and – which was still a provocation in the 1950's – poured, dripped and sloshed the colours onto it out of cans or buckets – thus introducing the liberation of composition and showing the absence of premeditated structure.

In the following decades, the artist predominantly used the colours red and blue. The work 'Without title (red)' (1986/1987, mixed media on canvas, 170 x 230 cm) demonstrates Thieler's colour palette clearly. The late works from the 1980s and 1990s, in which the confrontation between the artist and the colour as an independent element is culminating, mostly show colours which are condensed into a force and ungovernance. In his work 'Untitled' (1998, synthetic resin dispersion on canvas, 85 x 110 cm), this development is at its peak. There is a breath-taking force and ampleness in this work, yet demonstrating and summarising monumentality and tranquillity at the same time – it is that interplay of emotions that is captivating and fascinating to the viewer.

The MKM of Modern Art, Duisburg, recently devoted a comprehensive retrospective to the artist (11/01/2013 – 2/02/2014). Furthermore, parallel to our exhibition, his work will be presented from May 25 through September 21, 2014 at the Museum Gunzenhauser, Art Collections Chemnitz.