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Jutta Koether

Homohomo 2, 2002

Acrylic on canvas
190 × 150 cm

Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/​Cologne/​New York

Shirley (Gewirr) (Shirley [Chaos]), 2002

Acrylic on canvas
230 × 200 cm

Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/​Cologne/​New York

Unvollendete Sympathie (Unfinished Sympathy), 2002

Acrylic on canvas
220 × 200 cm

Courtesy Sammlung Wolfgang Tillmans, Berlin

Jutta Koether (*1958 Cologne, lives in Berlin and New York) is known above all for the center of her artistic interest being not the final product of the painting but the process as such. She is concerned with the variation of its social parameters and wants to explore in this way new relationships between the viewers and the medium of painting. Koether works overwhelmingly in the form of groups of works, which she often subjects to predetermined procedures or tasks.

This exhibition is presenting three works from a series of works by Jutta Koether titled Extremes Europa. It is clear at first glance that the artist used primarily red and yellow for the series, and the line is the dominant means of expression. In the center of the works shown is a painting titled Homohomo 2 (2002), which has a face partially covered by a metallic square.

The Homohomo in the title of the work alludes to the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, who uses that term to think of human beings outside of their social circumstances in order to explore anew their full potential. By contrast, Jutta Koether’s work is distinguished by always taking into account the gaze and reception of the socially other.” Strange heads with blank eyes have gathered in a cultlike way around a central face from which a nimbus emanates. The individual appears to stand at the center of the world here and to embody an abstract principle that is revealed as a redemptive force or revelation. At the same time, the individual is partially hidden behind a silvery, shiny object, or rather idolizes it, which is how one could describe a strong subjective desire such as striving for capital values.

The painting Unvollendete Sympathie (Unfinished Sympathy) (2002) is quite different: the heads have lost their central point of reference. They appear sullen and pallid, looking in different directions and forming a group held together by an uncertain expectation.

In the painting Shirley (Gewirr) (Shirley [Chaos]) (2002), the previous immobility has transformed into a powerful dynamic. The heads have dissolved in a chaos of color and are merely suggested by gestural traces and outlines in colors. There is no longer any opportunity to demarcate a single person, and even the group has broken down into an uncontrollable dynamic of forces.

On an abstract level, Jutta Koether illustrates possible relationships between the individual and the group and also reflects on social processes of division and uniting, not least within Europe. Whereas only a few people in the European cultural sphere are truly elevated and appreciated in their individuality, there are others whose humanity has almost been denied. People whose individuality is threatened can become resigned and disappear in a faceless crowd. Under such circumstances, the sometimes difficult to predict dynamic that some people form in groups can also be seen in a new way.

Jutta Koether

*1958 Cologne, lives in Hamburg, Berlin and New York

has exhibited in solo shows at the Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Serralves Foundation, Porto; Bortolami, New York; Campoli Presti, Paris; Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin; 10th Annual Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai; Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich and Arnolfini, Bristol, among others.

Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Hessel Museum, Bard College, New York; Galería Moisés Pérez de Albéniz, Madrid; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; mumok, Vienna; SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art and VOX – Centre de l’image contemporaine, Montréal; the Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the New Museum, New York; the Campoli Presti, Paris; the Tate Modern, London; and the São Paulo Biennial 2012, at the São Paulo Museum of Art.