004 - Sculpture garden brings wunderkind down with lockdown
Martin Creed, Everything is going to be alright, 2011, courtesy Martin Creed and Hauser & Wirth
Hello Smart Art Lover
Last Sunday I drove with a friend to Schwante Castle to visit the sculpture garden. Under the artistic direction of Annette von Spesshardt-Portatius, whom I personally hold in high esteem, Dr. Loretta Würtenberger, and the advice of Joost DeClerck, a list of renowned artists was compiled. With high expectations I walked through the park in the pouring rain. And I am disappointed.
The works stand always on the edge, they are lined up one after the other like a long string of pearls. The tour is more like a check list. Neon in the trees. Björn Dahlem. Check. Sculpture on the fenced meadow. Tony Cragg. Check. Glass Pavilion. Dan Graham. Check. The theme of the exhibition, Art and Nature, leaves me completely cold. Just because one puts a work of art in nature doesn't make it significant. And on the selection of works, it seems more like a collection of mediocre sculptures by good artists unearthed from the storage rooms of galleries.
A park without perspective
The only installations that strike me as worthwhile are the installation by Martin Creed, a neon work by Alexandra Hopf and the record column by Gregor Hildebrandt. This brings me to another point. In the history of garden architecture, playing with perspective is an important element. In your line of sight, the parts relate to each other. In the current exhibition, with the exception of Gregor Hildebrandt, This visual dance is dispensed with. All-in-all, a pity.
But the basic problem in Schwante is a different one. The landscape designers themselves did not know what they wanted. Natural romanticism, a wild meadow with beautiful weeping willows or a pristine golf lawn with brown spots of earth? When I want to sit in a golf cart to take a spin for 15 minutes, with a knowing smile, then changing the subject and talking about my last holiday - perfectly staged.
Loretta Würtenberger and Daniel Tümpel, Photo: welt.de
Art trade worth millions
But to whom does this place belong, where art, nature and pleasure come together? Schlossgut Schwante is the residence of Loretta Würtenberger and Daniel Tümpel. On the website they place themselves in a traditional line with the landed gentry of old. And as a family idyll that lets others share in art and nature. Landlust deluxe.
The two castle owners own Fine Art Partners, based on Kaiserdamm in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. An international financial services provider specialising in the art market. In essence, they give art dealers short-term money to buy works in the millions. They become co-owners and receive their invested amount plus premium back when the works are sold. In other words, they are a super elegant loan company. Smart.
The Talented Mr. Philbrick
I became aware of Fine Art Partners through the arrest of the so-called wunderkind Inigo Philbrick. Normally these deals are very discreet. The 33-year-old has led a jet-set life and has traded works of art in the single to double-digit millions at auctions. Fine Art Partner and others, such as Athena Art Finance, sold shares in works that Philbrick never owned and which he sold to several parties at the same time. In this case, a million-dollar sum for a work by Yayoi Kusama. The whole thing was a house of cards with galleries in New York and Miami Beach and an off-shore shop in Jersey. Fine Art Partner was very brave to break through discretion in this case and contribute to the case of the talented Mr. Philbrick. Chapeau.
With this background, I see the whole thing more as a dream of patronizing country life for the new Berlin elite, with a very beautifully converted stable. For landscape design and the sculpture exhibition I see space for improvement.
Sculpture & Nature
June 19 - October 31, 2020
Schlossgut Schwante, Oberkrämer
Grit Richter, Sometimes, When I Think of It (Pt.01), 2020,
Courtesy the artist und Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin
Online/Offline Favourite of the week
During the lockdown, the gallery owner Tanja Wagner reacted very quickly and started a weekly changing online program on her website, with the artists of her gallery on the topic of social distancing. I was and still am impressed.
After the lockdown, she published an edition, Spring of 2020, with works by the participating artists. The single works cost EUR 500,-, the whole box of 9 works EUR 2.500,-. With an edition of 50 this is pretty good. The exhibition runs until tomorrow, Saturday, August 1.
In the current Ex-Berliner you can read a good interview with her and Johan König.
Spring of 2020
with Editions by Ulf Aminde, Annabel Daou, Šejla Kamerić, Kapwani Kiwanga, Laurel Nakadate, Grit Richter, Lina Scheynius, Angelika J. Trojnarski, Anna Witt
June 18 - August 1 , 2020
Gallery Tanja Wagner, Berlin
Be brave, gentle and smart.
Yours
Florian
