Currently on View;
Thomas Eggerer
Selected Collages
2002 to 2022
September 7 - October 8
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 7th, 6-10pm
I love these high-gloss, hardcover portraits of American Universities, preferably from the 80s, with high color saturation. Breathtaking treasures are offered within their pages; the manifold sports activities... Pre-game stretching, post-game/pre-shower sweaty locker room gatherings to commiserate or rejoice. Holding hands, where are my socks? Or sunbathing in the sports arena. Full display. Fit, straight, bodies - the fundament of a healthy nation. Most likely he doesn’t know how hot he is, lying on a park bench and playing a wooden flute. Or, he sits on top of a stone wall leading to the cafeteria (faded modernism) in shorts, barefoot, completely absorbed by the book he is reading. Am I moved because of his hairy legs or because he is so concentrated? Does he fit in here or anywhere? Does he even care? I also get a kick out of illustrated manuals for fitness group workouts off all kinds (“The Ultimate Spa Body”), self-help guides (“The Backyard Lumberjack”) or public transportations systems. An Italian book on the Milano subway published in 1982 is an all time favorite; 70’s architecture, subway color codes, handrails! Guys hanging out, Castello Sforzesco, the Pirelli highrise… Books on “Nature” (“America’s Outdoor Wonders”, “Baxandall’s World Guide to Nude Beaches + Recreation”) are generally attractive, particularly when they address the myriad wacky ways in which people spend time and money under open skies. Besides, anything that is too obviously interesting doesn’t really work. It has to be almost normal, not too sensational. Cut-out photos go in a box where they can rest until I feel more interested in them, which can sometimes take years. Working on a collage is not a quick thing for me and generally it does not work out right away.
-T.E.
Thomas Eggerer (b. 1963, Munich DE) has had solo exhibitions at Petzel Gallery (2020), Galerie Buchholz, Berlin (2018); Maureen Paley Gallery (2021) Richard Telles, Los Angeles, CA (2014); Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (2008); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig (2003), and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford (2002).
His work has also been included in group exhibitions at Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin (2021); Gladstone Gallery, New York (2020); Brandhorst Museum, Munich (2020, 2019); Galerie Buchholz, New York (2018); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017); Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna (2016); White Columns, New York (2011); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2009); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2008); the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (2008); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004); the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2004); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (2004); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (2004), and Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (2003).
His works are held in the public collections of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum, New York, LACMA, Los Angeles, Sammlung Brandhorst, Munich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany; and the Boros Collection, Berlin.
For more information or for visuals please contact the gallery:
15 Orient
12 Jefferson Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206
303.803.4347