Nov. 25, 2020
Michael Buthe was one of the few artists in 1970s West Germany to take extended journeys to faraway countries and cultures, in search of a “lost paradise.” After the political tumult of 1968 and its student rebellions, Buthe and many of his contemporaries looked outside of Western cultural familiarity for keys to a new lifestyle and aesthetic. Around that time, the artist made Marrakesh his “spiritual second home.” Buthe’s international debut at the documenta V exhibition in 1972 came in the form of his first large-scale environment, entitled ‘Hommage an die Sonne’: a kind of tent made of hand-dyed fabrics, inspired by his time in Morocco.
With the ‘Paradise’ exhibition, KLEINERVONWIESE aims to highlight a smaller selection of later works from the artist’s estate, mostly created in 1994 in Tangier on Buthe’s last trip, and previously only exhibited once, in 1994, in Galerie Ribbentrop in Eltville. Michael Buthe died that same year, at the age of 50. Recently, there have been larger surveys of works, in 2015 and 2016 at the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent and at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, presented by the Goetz Collection.
The group exhibition at KLEINERVONWIESE includes works by Buthe’s Cologne friends—such as Ulrike Rosenbach, Klaus vom Bruch, Marcel Odenbach and Stefan Kürten, a student of Buthe—but also by current African and Arabic artists such as Abbas Yousif from Bahrain, Nasser Almulhim from Saudi Arabia and Barthélémy Toguo from Cameroon. The exhibition also includes works by sculptors Andreas Blank and Stefan Rinck from Berlin; the ceramic sculptor Chris Hammerlein; the painter Kerstin Serz; the painters Manfred Peckl and Maik Schierloh; and the painters and video artists David Krippendorff and Ricardo Peredo Wende; as well as the photo and video artist Pola Sieverding. The photographer Angelika Platen created a unique photo series of Michael Buthe shortly after his first return trip from Morocco in 1970, which will also be on view in the exhibition.
The conversation developed between the works of these artists and Buthe’s own works allows for an unprecedented narrative to unfold, one which shows the breadth of the artist’s love for other cultures and their people, and the magic of his unique concept of paradise.
Exhibition Info
KLEINERVONWIESE @ enter art airshop / opas Nr. 1
Group Show: ‘Paradise. Werke von und um Michael Buthe’
Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 26; 5–10pm
Exhibition: Nov. 27–Dec. 31, 2020
kleinervonwiese.com/home-paradise
Friedrichstraße 204, 10117 Berlin, click here for map
