Lab Visit and Work Samples

»Life is art is thinking is consumption? No thanks! This is what we became used to. It produced nothing but boredom, complacency and dullness in the end.«

These are Heribert C. Ottersbach's introductory words at Beck & Eggeling's on Thursday, 18th April 2024. Not the first time that the artist eloquently slashes the art scene.

That evening, Ottersbach invites all gallery visitors to join him on a tour of his laboratory. He is presenting samples of his work from the previous four years, just the way he would to anybody visiting his studio, whether gallery owners, museum curators, collectors or friends. The un-»orthodox« presentation is like an understatement. »orthodox« is just an inverted word featuring in one of the paintings on display.

Ottersbach very deliberately does without an »engineered and curated exhibition«. If anything, the non-existent »exhibition« is still, at first glance, in the making. Thus it would appear to us when entering the premisses that evening. A few, smaller canvases are hung, here and there, on brown cardboard. Standing right in the middle of the space, three trestle tables are covered in brown wrapping paper. Upon these, a myriad of fleeting impressions unfold, delicately captured on paper. As many as 145 drawings are on display. Every single one slightly larger than the size of a postcard.

»I do not want to be taken care of any longer or assisted for the time being. Times have change dramatically.« The artist says. He certainly questions »whether strategies from the good, old, normal days, so to speak, are still working.«

The laboratory promises to deliver a report. To becontinued....

These are Heribert C. Ottersbach's introductory words at Beck & Eggeling's on Thursday, 18th April 2024. Not the first time that the artist eloquently slashes the art scene.

That evening, Ottersbach invites all gallery visitors to join him on a tour of his laboratory. He is presenting samples of his work from the previous four years, just the way he would to anybody visiting his studio, whether gallery owners, museum curators, collectors or friends. The un-»orthodox« presentation is like an understatement. »orthodox« is just an inverted word featuring in one of the paintings on display.

Ottersbach very deliberately does without an »engineered and curated exhibition«. If anything, the non-existent »exhibition« is still, at first glance, in the making. Thus it would appear to us when entering the premisses that evening. A few, smaller canvases are hung, here and there, on brown cardboard. Standing right in the middle of the space, three trestle tables are covered in brown wrapping paper. Upon these, a myriad of fleeting impressions unfold, delicately captured on paper. As many as 145 drawings are on display. Every single one slightly larger than the size of a postcard.

»I do not want to be taken care of any longer or assisted for the time being. Times have change dramatically.« The artist says. He certainly questions »whether strategies from the good, old, normal days, so to speak, are still working.«

The laboratory promises to deliver a report. To be continued.



A presentation of recent drawings, paintings and texts
Session with the artist on Thursday 18 April 2024