Tobias Rehberger: Collector of himself

“You are feeling as when you’ve got moved in right here,” says Nanna Hjortenberg, director of the Copenhagen artwork establishment GL Strand for nearly a yr, commenting on the brand new exhibition in her home. These works by the German artist Tobias Rehberger are gathered on two flooring, the forecourt and the facade of the previous city corridor.

“Via the again aspect of my eye,” is the title of the weird present, and is not at all a basic retrospective. One such occasion befell within the Stuttgart Artwork Museum in 2022. Rehberger and Anne Kielgast, the present’s curator, had one thing totally different in thoughts when designing his first solo exhibition in Denmark. A self-portrait of the artist in entrance of the backdrop of his personal collections. “Perhaps it’s a good suggestion to indicate what I’ve saved for myself,” says Rehberger.

There are subsequently no exterior loans within the present, which is in any other case filled with displays. All the things that may be seen belongs to Rehberger himself. On the one hand, there are works which have already been proven in exhibitions, however which he then needed to maintain for himself and never go away to the artwork market and its difficult-to-control mechanisms.

The spectrum consists of works from greater than 30 years: from his time as a scholar on the Frankfurt Städelschule to the fast current. Guests are invited to expertise dysfunctional furnishings objects, an virtually empty room with black and white dazzle camouflage, neon works or a considerably intrusive cuckoo clock with Michael Jackson screams.

Private “accumulations”

As well as, and this makes the present notably private, there are numerous collections of non-art objects which have been fashioned over time within the Rehberger home and are actually being proven publicly for the primary time: curious teapots, ashtrays from all around the world, lifelike mushroom fashions and the whole lot Numerous cookbooks. Whether or not it’s recipes from three-star chef Alain Ducasse or hip Korean delicacies from YouTube star Maangchi: With this assortment, which is typically a bit tattered, Tobias Rehberger proves himself to be an skilled interest cook dinner and connoisseur. He, who was born in 1966 in Esslingen, Swabia, gave his mom’s Maultaschen recipe a really particular place.

Nonetheless, Rehberger himself doesn’t like to speak about collections in any respect. He prefers the time period “accumulations.” Initially only a few copies, over time – additionally via presents from pals – more and more bigger collections had been fashioned. In case you have a look at the gathering of teapots, it instantly turns into clear what pursuits and conjures up him artistically. The vary of variations right here ranges from Japanese formality to the jugs within the form of cats, bears or human grimaces which are standard in England.

That is precisely what seems to be a guiding theme of the exhibition. How do creative concepts really come about? How will you cleverly remodel what you discover and produce it into stability with what you could have thought up your self?

All through his whole profession, Tobias Rehberger has by no means outlined himself as a superb particular person artist. He’s identified for his collaborations with different artwork producers. {A photograph} that he has put in right here as wallpaper reveals him sitting within the Sahara along with his artist pals Not Very important, Richard Lengthy and Rirkrit Tiravanija, whereas they mirror on joint tasks.

In entrance of it, in purple, yellow and blue, are three massive sculptures that had been created from one-to-one molds of termite mounds. On this case he left the query of kind discovering totally to the state-forming bugs. As so typically occurs, he himself solely acted as a catalyst or infiltrator into the notion mechanisms of the artwork world.

Hand around in artwork

He took a really related method to the manufacturing of his newest sculptures: usable seating furnishings in usually vivid colours à la Rehberger. The shapes consequence from an web search. He had two clenched fists, a rock and a bit of spit-out chewing gum printed out on a 3D printer the dimensions of an armchair and added a small, daring element within the type of a recess that serves as an ashtray. Logically, the ashtray assortment may be present in the identical room.

And Rehberger even makes a suggestion to those that don’t wish to enter GL Strand’s showrooms for worry of thresholds or different causes. His work “We aren’t finished but” on the forecourt, created particularly for the exhibition, consists of a big Bluetooth speaker that individuals passing by can activate with their cellphone. The sq. turns into a brief celebration zone, whereas the neon work on the facade flashes rhythmically. Consistent with Tobias Rehberger’s credo that artwork comes throughout greatest if you don’t strive laborious to decipher it, however slightly “hang around” in it in a relaxed method.