Heavy Metal @ 30works

Heavy Metal @ 30works

Cold, hard, impenetrable, and equipped with strong reflection: metal is arguably the most unwelcoming surface for artistic processes. Yet, it has always been present in the oeuvre of Thomas Baumgärtel.

With "Heavy Metal," the artist references both the material and the conceptual hardness and weight of metal. The rough, patinated aura of aluminum rolling sheets, iron doors, and other metal relics is contrasted by Baumgärtel's ethereal, detail-oriented, and highly empathetic stencils of political and music icons, symbols of pop culture – and of course, his famous banana. He does not shy away from explicit criticism of current grievances and misdevelopments, which he dresses in his characteristic humorous and playful contexts. He stages the art market as a dance of death, Dürer's Adam and Eve serves as a spectacular basis for contemporary satirical critique, and Konrad Adenauer is proclaimed the spiritual father of the banana alongside Kennedy. Meanwhile, Jim Morrison, Lemmy Kilmister, and David Bowie transform into metal gods, which Thomas Baumgärtel immortalizes in poetic stylization on iron, chrome, and steel.

For the first time, his oversized spray cans will be on display – a tribute to his preferred working tool, the spray can.

Thomas Baumgärtel - Heavy Metal @ 30works

Opening: Friday, May 20, 2016, 7 PM Laudation: Konrad Adenauer Exhibition: May 20, 2016 - June 18, 2016
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 3-7 PM, Sat 11 AM-6 PM.

30works Galerie Antwerpener Str. 42
50672 Cologne www.30works.de hello@30works.de Phone: 0221/5700250