Friestil

Kunstverein
Speyer, Germany

2014-15

Plaster, wood, fabric, epoxy
Variable dimensions

In 2015 I was involved in “Freistil”, a group show of German and American artists using wrestling in their work. As an outsider to the sport, I had always seen it as a beautiful dance: timed, structured, costumed. In preparation for the show, I attended meets, coveted their accoutrements, and eventually adopted the wrestler’s persona as a stand-in for isolation, force, victory and defeat. I used the image of the wrestler’s singlet — the suit worn in the ring — as an empty form posed in mid-move. The wrestling ring was the stage onto which all moments spilled out into carnal plots of victory.

"The project possesses a range of different lenses through which wrestling may be considered and engaged: sport-historical, cultural, regional and national.  Just a selection of the possible aspects bound to the theme “Wrestling” includes: antiquity and the classical world, the sport of wrestling in general, the Olympic games, Winfried Dietrich and Chris Taylor and their biographies, the relationship between sports and art, wrestling entertainment, body images, wrestling as a metaphor, and so on."

From Curator, Oliver Schollenberger

Sheri Simons (USA), Sculpture and drawing
Selina Ruffing (GER), Sculpture
Trevor Lalaguna (USA), Drawing, Sculpture and Performance
Judith Waltz/ Sabrina Geckeis (GER), Video
Ellen Akimoto (USA), Painting
Judith Leinen (GER), Sculpture
Christoph Medicus (GER), Sculpture
Nicole Jean Hill (USA), Photography
Oliver Schollenberger (GER), Drawing and painting
Elias Wessel (GER) Photography and digital

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