ALBRECHT WILD (DE)
The principle of division is the key motive in Albrecht Wild’s installations. By reassembling advertising images, he creates unique artworks which reverse their serial characters and question what is considered art.
Working with fragmentation and unity, Albrecht Wild creates colourful artworks influenced by pop-art in their media but with a cubist twist in their approach. Wild cuts advertisements and refashions them into modular geometric artworks that can vary considerably in size.
Many works by Wild appear with a void in the middle that can be interpreted as a comment by the artist on the shallow and empty nature of advertisements in a consumerist society. Additionally, Wild’s works recall aesthetic ideograms as he moulds ornamental objects that emerge from an interplay of colourful shapes and geometric voids.
Wild became particularly famous for his series ‘Beermats’ which refashions beer coasters into works of art. Originally conceived as models for large scale paintings, the series became a sensation and beer mats are now sent to Wild from all over the world.
This series also features his ukiyo-e collages. These works use coasters with scenes from 17th century popular culture in Tokyo depicted in the homonymous Japanese style. By mixing ukiyo-e subjects and modern advertisements, Wild highlights how neither genre is considered “high art” by their respective contemporary establishment.
This is because Wild’s works both depict popular subjects and are produced as serial artworks. Wild questions what is valued as art, echoing the pop-art manifesto, by reversing the serial character of these images and comparing modern advertisements to the now artistically respected ukiyo-e. Wild’s artworks span over other disciplines, such as installations with clear socio-political references.
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Beermatseries Exhibition view
