Anselm Reyle Untitled 2006
The Artist's Dining Room brings together three German artists working within the tradition of abstraction. The two younger artists, Anselm Reyle and Thomas Scheibitz, are currently significant figures on the international art scene, while Manfred Kuttner is an artist who was active in the 1960s, and whose work, overlooked for many years, is now being reappraised.
All three artists move effortlessly between painting and sculpture, with an eclectic approach to both form and materials. They play with optical illusions, shifting perspectives, tricks of the light, mirrors and reflections, often using new technology, (whether it is the latest developments in paint or digital image manipulation) to reinvigorate familiar forms.
The title of the exhibition, The Artist's Dining Room, is taken from a work by Pablo Picasso from 1918. Though it is an abstract composition, it also refers to the importance of the domestic and personal realm underlying an artist's work. The choice of title is intended to remind us of a key moment in the history of European Modernism, while pointing to the way in which the artists exhibited here sample and reference the past.
