Olaf Metzel – Hans von Marées. Eine Annäherung/ An Approach

How to approach him? Opinions are divided on the work of Hans von Marées (1837–1887): for some he is a failed artist, for others he laid the foundation stone of modernism in Germany. Wherein lies the persistent contradiction with which his painted work is perceived? And what significance does his work, exhibited in a room of its own (no. 15) in the Neue Pinakothek in München, hold for a contemporary artist such as Olaf Metzel (*1952)? The approach initially took the form of a double exhibition at Metzel’s suggestion, for the sculptor deliberately sought the confrontation: the neo-idealist position of the Deutsch-Römer, among them von Marées, contains part of those much-invoked visions of Europe that are today so fiercely attacked from politically opposing directions. In direct confrontation, the painted work of Hans von Marées is set against some of Olaf Metzel’s most advanced sculptures. Metzel brings the classical themes of the portrait and the human figure before our eyes by placing his sculpture “Turkish Delight” (2006) with a sure hand. He also skilfully makes worlds collide politically: in the large aluminium work “Lampedusa” (2015), with newspaper articles on the subject of refugees, the front-page photographs alone are enough to make one shudder – no comparison, then, with the gardens of poets and gods of historical painting. Yet it is precisely in this way that Olaf Metzel restores topicality to his colleague’s oeuvre while at the same time bringing home to us the never-ending necessity of artistic provocation. The accompanying volume documents the exhibition in detail and publishes a series of lectures on the current state of the discussion.

Exhibition:
Pinakothek der Moderne, München, 26/11/2015 – 22/2/2016