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    SEBASTIAN WICKEROTH

    SEBASTIAN WICKEROTH

    Les concepts de transition et de transformation et leur relation à la couleur, aux formes et à la matière peuvent être considérés comme les principaux sujets du travail de Sebastian Wickeroth. En combinant des éléments de peinture, sculpture et architecture, les formes sont en état de déconstruction et semblent à la fois se rejoindre.

    La corrosion contrebalance la perfection du monochrome, générant une narration. L’analyse de l’espace pictural dévasté suggère une logique et une causalité d’incidents jamais advenus. Il ne s’agit pas de la destruction d’une sculpture mais plutôt d’une volonté de se servir de la décomposition comme méthode égale de construction. C’est ainsi que des événements apparemment accidentels et incontrôlés émergent en tant que structures méticuleusement composées.

    Né en 1977, Sebastian Wickeroth vit et travaille à Düsseldorf, Allemagne. Il a étudié à la Kunstakademie de Münster, à l’École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Genève, et à la Kunstakademie de Düsseldorf. Il est récemment devenu professeur à l’Université des Sciences et d’Arts Appliqués de Dortmund et à la Peter Behrens School of Arts de Düsseldorf.

    Expositions :
    Deformation professionnelle
    Matter // constant
    Summer Group Show
    What you’ve missed…
    Vanishing point

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      Né en 1977
      Vit et travaille à Düsseldorf, Allemagne

      COLLECTIONS

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

      EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES / DUO

      2021
      Vanishing Point, Galerie PARIS-B, Paris, France

      2019
      Raw feels, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscou, Russie
      Perpetual Dawn, 3:e Våningen, Göteborg, Suède

      2018
      matter // constant, Galerie PARIS-B, Paris

      2017
      Eurobilder, E9A, Fribourg (avec Billy Gruner)

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

      2014
      Warp, dh artworks, Düsseldorf, Allemagne

      2013
      Triplestar, Inside Out Art Museum, Peking, Chine

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

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

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

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

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

      2007
      Form fucks function, Konsortium, Düsseldorf, Allemagne

      EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES

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

      2020
      Non-sculpture, Lights of flexible, 2020 Changwon Sculpture Biennale, République de Corée
      Tamara Lorenz, Lukas Marxt, Alexander Romey, Sebastian Wickeroth | UMWELTEN, SETAREH Gallery, Düsseldorf, Allemagne

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

      2018
      Summer group show, Galerie PARIS-B, 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, Allemagne
      Out of shape, Maschinenhaus, Essen, Allemagne
      Offenes depot, Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster, Allemagne
      F*** Newton, Karst, Plymouth, Royaume-Uni
      Grijs-Grey, Galerie de Meerse, Hoofddorp, Royaume-Uni
      Nonobstant, SUPER, Nozay, France

      2015
      Momentum BND, ECI Cultuur Fabriek, Roermond, Pays-bas
      Sans titre, Un-spaced, Paris, France
      SOON, snap-projects, Bruxelles, Belgique
      Meta-mistakes, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
      We are all looking for astronauts, WE, Shanghai, Chine
      UN_FORMED, PS Projectspace, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas

      2014
      30/30 image archive project, AB contemporary gallery, Zurich, Allemagne
      30/30 image archive project, noi, Dolceacqua, Italie
      Sie und Ihre Ausstellungen, Aachen-Kornelimünster, Kunst aus NRW, Allemagne
      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, Allemagne

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

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

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

      2010
      New talents, kreative Energie, Landesvertretung NRW, Berlin, Allemagne
      A change of air, Arcade E.A.P, Nicosia, Chypre
      The castle of discipline, mischpoke, Mönchengladbach, Allemagne
      30/30 image archive project, PS, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas
      Und 6 Intercontinental, Schwartz Gallery, Londres, Royaume-Uni
      You and Now, Gallery Balice Hertling, Paris, France

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

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

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

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

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

      RECOMPENSES

      2018
      Prix de la Lepsien Art Foundation, Düsseldorf, Allemagne
      Travel grant of the state NRW, Beijing
      Residencia Artística FAAP, Sao Paulo, Brésil
      “AIR“ Multimedia Art Museum, Moscou, Russie

      2017
      GNMH award, Seoul
      AIR, CCA Andratx, Majorque

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

      2014
      Rondo fellowship, Autriche

      2013
      SIM Residency, Reykjavik, Islande
      Project grant, Inside – Out Art Museum, Beijing, Chine

      2012
      Travel grant of the state NRW, Sydney, Australie

      2010
      AIR, Wasps Studios, Glasgow, Ecosse
      Young artists, award, Aachen, Allemagne

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

      2008
      AIR, Mogosoaia palace, Bucharest, Roumanie

      2007
      Haus der Kunst Preis, Munich, Allemagne

      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.