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    SEBASTIAN WICKEROTH

    SEBASTIAN WICKEROTH

    The concepts of transition and transformation and their relation to color, forms and matter can be described as main subjects of Sebastian Wickeroth’s recent works. By combining elements of painting, sculpture and architecture, Geometrical shapes are in deconstruction and seem to join together.

    Corrosion counters the monochrome perfection, generating a narrative. The ruinous pictorial space surveys suggest logic and causality of incidences that never happened. It`s not about the destruction of a sculpture, but to create decomposition as an equal mode of construction. Seemingly accidental and unregulated occurrences emerge as composed structures.

    Born in 1977, Sebastian Wickeroth currently lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He studied at the Kunstakademie Münster, at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Geneva, and at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. He recently became a professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Dortmund and the Peter Behrens School of Arts in Düsseldorf.

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      Born in 1977
      Currently works and lives in Düsseldorf, Germany

      COLLECTIONS

      Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
      Sammlung Kunst aus NRW, Aachen-Kornelimünster, Germany
      Sammlung der Mediantis AG, Tutzing, Germany
      Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China
      Centre d`art contemporaine, Venniseux, France
      The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China

      SOLO / DUO EXHIBITIONS

      2021
      Vanishing Point, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France

      2019
      Raw feels, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
      Perpetual Dawn, 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg, Sweden

      2018
      matter // constant, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris

      2017
      Eurobilder, E9A, Fribourg (avec Billy Gruner)

      2015
      Rise and shine, Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Compound spaces (Ich tue das beste, was ich kann, unter der Berücksichtigung dessen, was du tust), Vitrinen, Köln, Germany
      Back and forth, forever, snap-projects, Lyon, France

      2014
      Warp, dh artworks, Düsseldorf, Germany

      2013
      Triplestar, Inside Out Art Museum, Beijing, China

      2012
      Soiled structures, GKG, Bonn (in company with Kai Richter), Germany
      SNO 89, SNO, Sydney, Autralia

      2011
      Nadir, graphisches Kabinett, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Becoming, Förderverein aktuelle Kunst FAK, Münster, Germany
      My way or the highway, Bruch & Dallas, Köln, Germany

      2010
      Young artists, award, Aachen-Kornelimünster Kunst aus NRW, Germany
      S_MELT #2, hall of fame, Tilburg (in company with Andre Pielage), Netherlands
      Colours fade, The Briggait, Glasgow, Scotland

      2009
      Superposition, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Köln, Germany
      Szenenwechsel, Museum für konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
      Hell Feld, Kunsthaus, Essen (in company with Christian Forsen), Germany

      2008
      Draft, Mogosoaia palace, Bucharest, Romania
      Fragile, H29, Brussels (in company with Clemens Hollerer), Belgium

      2007
      Form fucks function, Konsortium, Düsseldorf, Germany

      SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

      2022
      Hängepartie. Kunst mit offenem Ende, curator: Dr. Theres Rohde, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
      konkret KONKRET? Das kalkuliert Unvorhergesehene in der konkreten Kunst, curator: Denise Winter, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn, Germany

      2020
      Non-sculpture, Lights of flexible, 2020 Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Republic of Korea
      Tamara Lorenz, Lukas Marxt, Alexander Romey, Sebastian Wickeroth | UMWELTEN, SETAREH Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany

      2019
      The Big Circle, M-17 Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine
      Paris Photo 2019, Paris, France
      Biennale International Reductive and Non Objective Art, Sydney, Australia

      2018
      Summer group show, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France

      2017
      Abstruct, Park, Tilburg
      Au hasard, Villa Balthazar, Valence
      Endless backup, FutureDome, Milan
      Mogodorf 10, Kunstraum Düsseldorf

      2016
      Run run run, Villa Arson, Nice
      Abstraction as an ageless approach, Galerie Ruth Leutcher, Düsseldorf
      Deformation Professionnelle, a project by Raphaël Denis, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris
      DYSTOTAL, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany
      Out of shape, Maschinenhaus, Essen, Germany
      Offenes depot, Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster, Germany
      F*** Newton, Karst, Plymouth, UK
      Grijs-Grey, Galerie de Meerse, Hoofddorp, Netherlands
      Nonobstant, SUPER, Nozay, France

      2015
      Momentum BND, ECI Cultuur Fabriek, Roermond, Netherlands
      Sans titre, Un-spaced, Paris, France
      SOON, snap-projects, Brüssel, Belgium
      Meta-mistakes, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
      We are all looking for astronauts, WE, Shanghai, China
      UN_FORMED, PS Projectspace, Amsterdam, Netherlands

      2014
      30/30 image archive project, AB contemporary gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
      30/30 image archive project, noi, Dolceacqua, Italy
      Sie und Ihre Ausstellungen, Aachen-Kornelimünster, Kunst aus NRW, Germany
      Géométrie Immatérielle, Un-spaced (hosted by gallery Xenon), Bordeaux, France
      Frequences and Forms, snap-projects, Lyon, France
      Raving Disco Dolly On A Rock N`Roll Trolley, New York, USA
      Rise and shine“ Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Düsseldorf, Germany

      2013
      Grosse Kunstausstellung, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
      S(ch)ichtwechsel, Museum für konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
      Octahedron – in the absence of one man” SÌM, Reykjavik, Iceland
      Billo Bäm, Künstlerhaus, Dortmund, Germany
      Poste Concret, ParisCONCRET, Paris, France
      Kunstsalon Flingern, spam contemporary, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Moiras Planschränke, Raketenstation Hombroich, Neuss, Germany
      SNO 100“ SNO, Sydney, Australia

      2012
      Junger Westen, Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany
      The Reality of the Unbuilt, Raketenstation Hombroich, Neuss, Germany
      Herbst.Zeit.Lose, GKG, Bonn, Germany
      Topits, Kunstwerk, Köln, Germany
      30/30 image archive project, Le Moinsun, Paris, France

      2011
      Zentrale, Stadthausgalerie, Münster, Germany
      Construction-site, CON-SUM, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Invited” Klaus Benden gallery, Köln, Germany
      Raumbilder Bildräume, Kunstverein, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
      Back from Glasgow, AaE, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Junger Westen, Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany

      2010
      New talents, kreative Energie, Landesvertretung NRW, Berlin, Germany
      A change of air, Arcade E.A.P, Nicosia, Cyprus
      The castle of discipline, mischpoke, Mönchengladbach, Germany
      30/30 image archive project, PS, Amsterdam, Netherlands
      Und 6 Intercontinental, Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
      You and Now, Gallery Balice Hertling, Paris, France

      2009
      Back from, Atelier am Eck, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Minimal-maximal, Gallery Andreas Grimm, Munich, Germany
      Grauzone, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf, Germany
      K.O.nsens, Kunstraum Blast, Köln, Germany
      Blok, Schloss Ringenberg, Hamminkeln, Germany
      NordWestKunstpreis, Kunsthalle, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

      2008
      Do you have expectations?, Wartesaal, Zurich, Switzerland
      Würdest du bitte endlich still sein, bitte, Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany
      2, camp, Düsseldorf, Germany
      New talents, biennale, Köln, Germany
      Highlights of german academies, Dina4 Projekte, Berlin, Germany
      Unsculptured, Atelier35, Bucharest, Romania
      Kleinere Arbeiten, Raum500, Munich, Germany

      2007
      Große Kunstausstellung, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
      Stahl im Sturm, glue, Berlin, Germany
      Das Gesetz der guten Gestalt, KKB, Berlin, Germany
      Junger Westen, Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany

      2006
      Exile on cottage street, Temporary, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Das letzte Wort der Kunst, Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Wir waren mal Freunde gewesen, Gloriahalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
      Contemporary zoomansicht, Meisterhaus1, Düsseldorf, Germany

      2005
      Vous êtes ici, Gallery Palais de l´Athénée, Geneva, Switzerland

      AWARDS

      2018
      Lepsien Art Foundation award, Düsseldorf, Germany
      travel grant of the state NRW, Beijing, China
      Residencia Artística FAAP, Sao Paulo, Brazil
      “AIR“ Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia

      2017
      GNMH award, Seoul
      AIR, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

      2015
      AIR, The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China

      2014
      Rondo fellowship, Austria

      2013
      SIM Residency, Reykjavik, Island
      Project grant, Inside – Out Art Museum, Beijing, China

      2012
      Travel grant of the state NRW, Sydney, Australia

      2010
      AIR, Wasps Studios, Glasgow, Scotland
      Young artists, award, Aachen, Germany

      2009
      Schloss Ringenberg scholarship, Germany
      Project grant, Kunststiftung NRW, Germany

      2008
      AIR, Mogosoaia palace, Bucharest, Romania

      2007
      Haus der Kunst Preis, Munich, Germany

      Text by Tobias Hoffmann

      In the early 20th century the Russian suprematists and the Dutch De Stijl group started revolutionizing the image notion. Works of art would detach themselves from the standing requirement of reproducing reality and turn into autonomous or, as Theo van Doesburg put it in 1930, concrete works. Geometric form and surface ratios became the fundament of an omnipresent and self-evident artistic language of modernism. Following the European Avant-garde movement of the constructivists in the 20s and 30s, particularly the Zurich Concrete Art representatives headed by Max Bill, Richard Paul Lohse and Camille Graeser intensified and systemized in the 40s and 50s the critical dealing with this canon of forms. During the 50s, however, a controversial position developed in parallel against too stringent an adherence to the given geometric forms. This may certainly be considered as a system-immanent criticism for the traditional method of image creation was not at all questioned by those artists who used to rigorously reject it. There was rather the fear of the image language to be freezing that induced the attempt to find different geometry-based possibilities for enlarging the form canon. Lucio Fontana, for example, intervened in the monochrome rectangular image surface by slitting the canvas, thus breaking the strict geometry and bending the image surface into the third dimension. Also Christian Megert’s starting point is a monochrome surface for the mirror, Megert’s primary working material, is initially monochrome unless it reflects something. Megert breaks and cuts his mirrors into cullets to disintegrate their originally geometric form. Both artists reinforce their dealing with geometrical forms through disintegration by the processes of slitting and breaking. They tackle their works almost violently and make this action visible.

      Geometric form and its concurrent disruption, destruction and deformation is also the starting point for Sebastian Wickeroth’s art. This can be the forcefully brute presentation of an implied destructive act such as in his work „strategie der steine 3“. A big rectangular block seems to have crashed to the ground from such height that one of its edges is completely shattered. Here Wickeroth plays with the zest for association of the viewer who may be unable to reject the immediately arising impression of a destructive act. Actually, however, Wickeroth does not cause destruction, he constructs destruction. His point is not the act of destruction itself but the construction of the deconstructed form. He did not smash the block in „strategie der steine 3“ by having it drop but created its deformed form right from the beginning. In this way, he addresses both the stringent geometric form and its deformation.

      In „graceful degradation“ a black rectangle simply disintegrates at its bottom. The object appears unable to retain its form. The absolutely precise shape of the upper part, which is still emphasized by an impeccably smooth surface, starts draping, becomes wrinkled and seems to melt. Wickeroth has even the substructure, the framework, randomly jut out. In these works, Wickeroth approximates the American Steven Parrino who used to deform geometric surfaces by first removing the canvas from the frame in order to re-mount it crumpled. Unlike Parrino’s, Wickeroth’s works allocate a minor role to the reflection about the image notion. He develops his works out of a sculptural perspective. Surfaces excel in extreme smoothness and perfect neutrality that refer to industrial fabrication rather than painting. Moreover, most of his installations are composed of several parts whose interaction causes a confrontation of clear geometric form with vanishing orthogonality. For example, „untitled – fragile“ consists of three equally sized black rectangles arranged horizontally on top of each other. One edge of the uppermost rectangle penetrates the one below, significantly deforming it and transferring the resulting fall of the surface’s folds down to the third rectangle.

      In his work „immer darüber hinaus“, created in 2009 for the Museum für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, Wickeroth separates for the first time strict geometric form clearly from apparently formless chaos. A large geometric cube with high-gloss finished surface stands out of a pile of broken, yellow-lacquered Rigips panels. The cube’s order and the Rigips panels’ chaos, form and anti-form, oppose, accentuate and, at the same time, challenge each other. With its monochrome colour and its faultless surface – Wickeroth mounts glossy foils over a frame structure – the cube recalls the American Minimal Art whose simple geometric bodies are made of pre-fabricated industrial materials such as acrylic glass, stainless steel or aluminium. The glossy foil in Wickeroths works alludes to these superior materials and feigns a polished plastic body. In „vielleicht morgen“ he employs the foil so skilfully that the play between form and deformation incorporates the entire environment. The outer sides of the flat ground-based work are slightly bent downwards and distort the reflections from the surrounding room. Accordingly, the form is no longer deconstructed only in the work itself but visually affects the static architectural forms in the surroundings. The room becomes an integral component of the work ostensibly designed as an autonomous sculpture. Being viewed, the visual deformation of the room gains such dynamics that the actual form of the installation distinctly retreats into the background. Wickeroth qualifies the effect of the form without destructively reshaping it.

      How does one deal with the achievements of the historical avant-gardes in the beginning of the new century? What can the artistic understanding of forms look like today under the aspect of the long tradition of an almost overpowering geometry? With a certain brutalism, Wickeroth attacks the formalistic principles of the art of the 20th century. His works represent an ideological-critical questioning of traditional aesthetic positions as he confronts striving for order and clarity always with its contra position. In the subtitle of a work „form fucks function“ Wickeroth refers unmistakably to the historical avant-gardes. Construction, however, principally comes first. For even if his works may evoke the association that their final design has evolved from a radical gesture of destruction, it is nevertheless he who has constructed anti-form, chaos, destruction. His works unite construction and de-construction of form, the aesthetics of geometry and its invalidation, obvious formal stringency and its ironic negation by anarchy and failure. In this way, Sebastian Wickeroth manages in a refreshing way to merge Punk and Minimal in his works of art.