Body | Not for Sale – Groupshow

Under the title Body – Not For Sale, artist and professor at the University of the Arts Berlin Leiko Ikemura curates an exhibition bringing together artistic positions from different generations and nations.

The exhibition presents paintings, drawings and photographs by artists whose work has deliberately not appeared in a gallery context, or who have remained undiscovered in the art market for various reasons. These works are shown alongside lesser-known pieces by more established artists.

The selection of artists and works, as well as the spatial design of the exhibition, lies entirely in the hands of Leiko Ikemura, who realises her own perspective in the gallery space, guided primarily by artistic inquiry.

The exhibition features works by Gerd Bonfert (*1953), Leiko Ikemura, Rona Kobel (*1982), Nikolaus List (*1965), Annemarie von Matt (1905–1967), Christian Pilz (*1978), Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973), Miroslav Tichý (1926–2011) and Wols (1913–1951).

The focus of the exhibition lies on drawings, paintings and photographs by artists who consciously avoid the gallery system or who have remained unnoticed in the art market. These works are shown in dialogue with unknown works by established artists.

My intention is to curate an exhibition that reveals the particular quality of artists who are not visible in the mainstream. What distinguishes them is that their originality and sensitivity have developed largely independently of the art market.

It is an exciting challenge for me, as an artist with my own position, to select artists and works and to shape both the exhibition and its spatial presentation. Artists from various generations and nations have been researched, creating a constellation that should offer viewers a genuine discovery.

Body – Not For Sale does not reject the economics of art; rather, it expresses an attitude toward the uncertainty generated by an irrational, profit-driven market. The exhibition reveals prisms of complex inner life and results from sustained research into singular artistic positions, guided by belief in values created patiently and lucidly.

The body is a central theme—housing mind and soul, it is a direct medium for the expression of transcendence.

The drawings of Christian Pilz (b. 1978) confront viewers with an enigmatic universe. Over many years he has explored drawing as a means of navigating the labyrinth of thinking and feeling in fast-paced times. The density of detail, the result of extended periods of work, expands the microcosm into a broader universe of the unknown.

Wols (1913–1951), one of the most uncompromising artists of his era, became known for his paintings, drawings and photographs. The small drawings and etchings presented here, however, have remained largely unseen. Their sketch-like structures resonate with Pilz’s work, revealing frameworks at the core of perpetual beginnings.

The photographic works of Miroslav Tichý (1926–2011) are juxtaposed with those of Gerd Bonfert (1953). Both reveal forms of obsession: Tichý’s desire for the opposite sex contrasts with Bonfert’s exploration of subjectivity and the self. Tichý’s hidden-camera photographs—viewed alongside his drawings—are icons of secret longing, while Bonfert’s long-exposure photographs render traces of light that appear almost sculptural, simultaneously reflecting on the medium itself.

Since the 1990s, Nikolaus List (b. 1965) has painted corporeal trees, creating spaces that do not otherwise exist. These parallel worlds are both aesthetic and enigmatic; shifting perspectives generate unusual spatial sensations that transform the familiar into the unknown.

The sculptures of Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973) are milestones of twentieth-century sculpture. Her experiences in concentration camps and early illness may have shaped her heightened awareness of the body. Her sculptural works articulate a painful fragmentation of female identity, comparable to the work of Eva Hesse. Her drawings are equally striking in their essential, internally perceived physicality.

Rona Kobel (b. 1982) reflects on mediated representations of iconic role behaviour in film, constructing her own realities through digitally manipulated photography. Her carefully staged images acquire a sculptural quality; through depersonalisation, their surreal corporeality gains physical presence.

Annemarie von Matt (1905–1967) withdrew completely with her partner to Central Switzerland following personal conflict. Her poetry, objects and drawings—rich in emotional and intellectual depth—remain largely undiscovered, waiting to be brought to light.

— Leiko Ikemura