Art Basel 2024

Klaus Rinke solo show

ART BASEL

Feature Booth D08 

KLAUS RINKE solo show

 

Thomas Brambilla is pleased to announce his participation in Art Basel 2024. For the Feature section, Thomas Brambilla Gallery is proud to present a solo show of the German artist Klaus Rinke (b. 1939), showcasing a series of his iconic museum-quality photographs from the 1970s "Primary Demonstration" series. During this period, Rinke developed his first performances in which he explored the concepts of body, space, and time, reproducing them in photographic sequences. In these performances, Rinke's body serves as a "universal body," with its possibilities and limits tested to the extreme in various settings, including galleries, museums, and natural environments.
 
PRIMARY DEMONSTRATIONS 

Klaus Rinke (b. 1939) is a universal artist who cannot be considered from a one-dimensional standpoint. Rinke is a draughtsman, painter, sculptor, photographer, philosopher and an artist of aqueous mediums and landscapes, of the human body, action painter, an artist of words, concepts, and philosophy. Since the 1960's he has played, indeed, an important part in the international art scene. His work is integral to the radical artistic movements that emerged during that period, which include Performance Art, Body Art, Land Art, Conceptual Art, Process Art and Action Art.  Rinke is credited with creating the renowned "Düsseldorf Scene" and the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, where he lectured thirty years. In 1968 he conceived the idea of uniting some young Düsseldorf artists for an exhibition at the Kunst Museum Lucerne along with art historian Jean Christophe Ammann. The show was titled "The Düsseldorf Scene" and the artists featured in the show included Joseph Beuys, Jorg Immendorf, Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter and Klaus Rinke.

 

In late Sixties, Rinke abandoned painting for sculpture to work in three dimensions, then, moved from sculpture to photography using his own body as a central element. This "physical" experience of space also involved the recognition of the fourth dimension, time. From 1969, body, space and time become the major subject and interest of Rinke's oeuvre. On his show at MoMA in 1973, the artist said: "with the incorporation of time, Art was transformed into a process. I choose the body and the gesture of the body as a dematerialized, and most intelligible medium, to create an ABC of seeing and experiencing, and with this of human being in general".

At the time, Rinke developed his first performances, titled "Primary Demonstrations", in which he explored the concepts of body, space and time and reproduced them in photographic sequences. In these performances, Rinke's body is used as a "universal body": its possibilities and its limits, linked to the space and time, are tested to the extreme in both internal and external spaces such as galleries, museums, or nature. To accompany the movements of his body, Rinke often employed railway clocks since he was inspired by station clocks from his early childhood. He grew up near a railway station and both of his father, grandfather and great grandfather were railway men.  Rinke's research on the concepts of "duration" and "impermanence" found their echo in what the French philosopher Henri Bergson called "Duration" or "Dauer": in terms of human experience "the here and now" is only a fleeting instant that is only generated through the power of human perception. Therefore, the present is a combination of physical "Time", that goes on even when we are not there, and the human perception of "Time". The German railway clock had, indeed, both a deep biographical and philosophical significance and it has become the leitmotif in Rinke's expression: references can be found in all the artist's production, from paintings to sculptures and photographs. The photographs demonstrate the meticulous almost scientific research of the artist and contributed to create a repertory of strict yet refine visual language that brings gestures, shapes, forms, and primordial energies together as one. Rather than record or aestheticize nature and the modern human condition, as did many of the great photographers during the earlier part of the century, Rinke's photographs become evidence which document a new conceptual, but also rational and scientific, approach to photography.

Rinke's exploration of "duration" and impermanence through the dynamic interplay of body, performances, clocks, water etc. transcends conventional artistic boundaries. His conceptual approach not only serves as a nuanced representation of temporal concepts but also invites contemplation on broader themes such as time, life, environmental responsibility, and the delicate balance of our planet's resources. Rinke's artistic journey becomes a compelling narrative that intertwines aesthetics, philosophy, and environmental activism, offering viewers a multifaceted experience that goes beyond the confines of traditional artistic expression.

 

 

Klaus Rinke exhibited in two Documenta exhibitions in Kassel and two Venice Biennales. His solo exhibitions have graced the walls of some of the world's most prestigious museums, including the MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, the CCCOD in Tours, the Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, and the Haubrok Foundation in Berlin.
Rinke's artworks are housed in numerous public and private collections, and he has been bestowed with accolades for his contributions to contemporary art. These honors include recognition from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Deutsche Bank in Düsseldorf, the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the R.M.I.T. Gallery in Melbourne, the F.R.A.C. Champagne Ardennes in Reims, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery in Canberra, the Modern Museum in Vienna, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, the MoMA in New York, the Tate Modern Museum in London, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, and many more. Currently, Klaus Rinke lives and works in Linz, Austria, and Los Angeles, USA.

 

 


[1] Press release of Klaus Rinke show at MoMA Museum, 1973, p. 2.

[2] Klaus Rinke: K.R. 1939 MEZ, In IN VIVO 01/2015, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

[3] Accessed online: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2534

[4] Press release of Klaus Rinke show at MoMA Museum, 1973, p. 2.

June 13, 2024
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