Tobias Madison at Kunstverein Munich
October 18th, 2010
Artist: Tobias Madison
Venue: Kunstverein Munich
Exhibition Title: Do It To Do It
Date: September 25 – November 21, 2010
Note: The works in this show were made in collaboration with: Nils Bech, Ruedi Bechtler, Kaspar Müller, Rebecca Senn, Sergei Tcherepnin, Jan Vorisek
Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.
Images:
Images courtesy of Kunstverein Munich. Photos by Ulrich Gebert.
Press Release:
Kunstverein München is pleased to announce the first comprehensive Soloshow of upcoming artist Tobias Madison (*1985, Basel) in Germany.
The exhibition at Kunstverein München aims to provide an insight into Madisons eclectic body of work and the diverse processes of production, merging design and lifestyle with artistic identity.
What makes Madison a crucial player in his generation of visual artists in Switzerland is that he has become the inspirational driver of numerous national and international collaborations that have come out of the artistic position that he embraces. He is co-founder of the basel based showroom New Jerseyy (Daniel Baumann, Emanuel Rossetti und Dan Solbach) and explores projects that have a more complex relation to the art world, such as initiating a conceptual museum for Italien Memphis designer Ettore Sottsass together with Emanuel Rossetti und Martin Jaeggi in 2009. The Ettore Sottsass Museum aims to establish a collection of objects and information related to Ettore Sottsass, the Memphis group and Sottsass Associati and is dedicated to its modes of presentation and distribution.
In his work “Yes I Can! The Movie: A Preview“ Madison combines overpainted flags and a shortfilm from 2009. This roadmovie records Madisons trip from Switzerland to Hong Kong. This project features a selection of “Yes I Can” flags, taking them from the facades of the Radisson hotels he passed on the way, as if the slogan was an invitation to do so and commissioning other artists to add painterly gestures to this readymade surface. Each canvas features the corporate colours of patrons, that sponsored the trip and finally lead to the production of his film.
In this way “Yes I Can!“ becomes the slogan of a selfgoverning capitalism in which the involved parties establish the rules and change them at any given point. To program an exhibition of Madisons work would not result in a solo-show in the traditional sense. On the contrary it would appear as fragmentary and dynamic as a group show.
Link: Tobias Madison at Kunstverein Munich
2 Responses to “Tobias Madison at Kunstverein Munich”
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October 23rd, 2010 at 7:05 am
What makes Madison’s work quite imposing is its marketing strategies and impetus one can see shine through. The artist has an outstanding intelligence of branding himself while making other people enjoy working for him.
Unfortunately, after one takes a closer look, the works themselves can’t keep the trade name’s promise: A lifeless potpourri merging together ripoffs of well known contempory art and design, is that all we can? Only sometimes it gets interesting, when the aesthetics remind of nineties trade show catalogues, which is somehow
less of an arty gesture which opens up something new.
Nevertheless, playing the Duchamp and capitalism card seems kind of over…
I can’t..
October 25th, 2010 at 3:46 am
…good point…to be well said also: its too much about politics who is on show and where, and which people in the back are putting the artists on the stage like marionettes…sad but true.
one shall reflect more on the positions and indeed, often they are lifeless and juxtaposing glossy surfaces and superficial ideologies…