Olaf MetzelMir ist das schwarze Quadrat lieber als die rote Fahne /
I like the black square more than the red flag

The Jerg-Ratgeb-Preis 2018 goes to Olaf Metzel! Every four years the Jerg-Ratgeb-Preis, endowed by the HAP-Grieshaber-Stiftung in Reutlingen, is awarded; besides Carlfriedrich Claus and Lucian Freud in earlier years, it most recently went to Joannis Avramidis in 2014. In 2018 the prize now goes to Olaf Metzel. Originally founded jointly by HAP Grieshaber and Rolf Szymanski, the prize is intended to stand “for the freedom of art and for non-violence in the struggle for greater humanity.” Jerg Ratgeb (1480–1526) was a southern German painter whose altarpieces can still be seen today, for instance in the Stadtkirche Schwaigern. During the Peasants’ War the insurgents elected him war councillor and chancellor; on the side of Duke Ulrich he fought for the recovery of the latter’s territory and was finally put on trial in Pforzheim in 1526 “on account of the Peasants’ War and Duke Ulrich,” convicted of high treason and “torn apart by four horses.” Published on the occasion of the award and an exhibition held in conjunction with it at the Kunstmuseum Spendhaus in Reutlingen, the book offers a chronological retrospective with installation views of Olaf Metzel’s work, which from the outset has been distinguished by an at times harsh realism and by spectacular stagings – earning the artist not only international recognition but often enough a good deal of hostility as well.

Exhibition:
Kunstmuseum Spendhaus Reutlingen, 5/5 – 8/7/2018