Olaf Metzel: From the TV to the Fridge

The social reliefs by Olaf Metzel

With his group of aluminium works, Olaf Metzel has not only surprisingly and confidently reintroduced the theme of relief into current debates, but also consciously ties in with his own earlier works, in which he had already spelt out this particular art-historical genre. The present volume traces this arc in a very vivid way, above all thanks to the artist's materials and texts that have been printed for the first time. It begins with the well-known work "Türkenwohnung Abstand 12.000,- DM VB", in which the artist advertised the letting of a flat in Berlin in 1982, in which he himself had previously "hacked into the walls" and left a swastika in the central room. The 1984 sculpture leaning against the wall of the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, a concrete mourning wreath with the crudely painted words Stammheim above it, is also unforgettable and still causes public outrage today. And finally, Olaf Metzel's latest aluminium works also show us something like the social relief of American reality.

Exhibition:
Kunstraum Innsbruck, 6/2 - 28/3/2015