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Life and Work

Gehard Demetz © Michael Dannenmann

Gehard Demetz creates fascinatingly detailed sculptures and objects from lime wood. The introverted facial expressions and provocative poses in his figures of children invite the viewer to confront them, testifying to his strong and highly individual artistic pictorial language.

The children are usually equipped with various nightmarish props: One young boy is tied up holding holding a saw in his hands, another raises his empty hands high above his head, carrying a cross on his belt like a weapon. Demetz' works question the value system of our contemporary society by re-contextualizing religious symbols and everyday objects, thus creating new meanings.

Demetz's technical approach develops out of the craft of »Herrgottschnitzerei«, a traditional form of religious wood sculpture of great importance in his native South Tyrol. Through a constant examination of traditional techniques and figures from this genre, the artist has developed an unmistakably contemporary language. His sculptures are not created by removing the wood from a trunk, but by assembling a large number of individual pieces. Through deliberate gaps between the individual parts, Demetz points to ideas of completeness, emptiness, and fragmentation.

After completing his studies at the Fachschule für Bildhauer in Wolkenstein, Gehard Demetz worked as a lecturer there for ten years. He continued his education at the Internationale Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst Salzburg in 2000 and 2001. In 2007 he was awarded the Richard Agreiter Art Prize for Sculpture. He lives and works in Selva in Val Gardena, Italy. His work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including at the MACRO in Rome in 2016, at the Kunstverein Recklinghausen in 2013, and at the Villa Wessel Museum in Iserloh in 2008. Demetz's works have also been represented in numerous group exhibitions, for example in 2011 at the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro in Milan, in 2010 at the Kunstmuseum Mülheim, and in 2009 at the Galleria Nazionale Palazzo Spinola in Genoa.

Biography

1972 born in Bolzano, IT
1986 – 1989 Studied at the Kunstschule Wolkenstein, IT
1989 – 1991 Studied at the School of Sculptors, Wolkenstein, IT
1992 was educated by Matthias Resch
1995 Diploma as Sculptor
1996 – 2006 Teaching assignment at the School of Sculptors, Wolkenstein & St. Ulrich, IT
2000/01 Visit of the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg, AT, with the Zhou Brothers, Chicago, US & Jakobo Borges, Caracas, VE
lives and works in Wolkenstein, IT

Prizes and Awards

2007 Kunstpreis für Bildhauerei Richard Agreiter, IT

Works (Selection)

Gehard Demetz, Iron for Gold, 2016, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Iron for Gold, 2016, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, 336 Positions, 2019, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, 336 Positions, 2019, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Home of Great Daughters and Sons, 2021, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Home of Great Daughters and Sons, 2021, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Divinum Drone, 2015, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Divinum Drone, 2015, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, 21 Grams, 2018
Gehard Demetz, Untitled, 2016, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Senza titolo, 2017, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Third Wave, 2021, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Debt to My Mother, 2013, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Gehard Demetz, Only the Princess Looks Normal, 2020, © Gehard Demetz + VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2023 Auge in Auge ‒ Gehard Demetz im Stiftsmuseum Xanten, Stiftsmuseum Xanten, Xanten, DE
2020 Identities ‒ Gehard Demetz & Desmond Lazaro, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2019 Gehard Demetz ‒ Introjekt, Stadtmuseum Klausen, Klausen, IT
Coming Out ‒ Gehard Demetz e Laisvydė Šalčiūtė, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, IT
2017 Introjection, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, US
Gehard Demetz ‒ Introjection, Project room #1, MACRO ‒ Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, IT
Gehard Demetz, Kunstverein Münsterland, Coesfeld, DE
2014 The Invocation, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, US
2013 La scultura interroga la pittura #1 ‒ Gehard Demetz & Piero Dorazio, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Lissone, IT
Echo eines Kniefalls, Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, DE
Der Schnee kommt vom Mond, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2012 Threshold Space, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, US
2011 Mutterland, l'età estranea, Fondazione Mimmo Rotella, Catanzaro, IT
Gehard Demetz, Palacio de Pimentel, Valladolid, ES
Mutterland, Galleria Rubin, Milan, IT
Contenitore, Beck & Eggeling new quarters, Dusseldorf, DE
2010 Threshold Area, Galería Raquel Ponce, Madrid, ES
2009 Superheroes. Kinder-Träume? (mit Raquel Muñoz López), Galerie Gefängnis Le Carceri, Bolzano, IT
Love at first touch: Gehard Demetz, ex Chiesa di San Francesco, Como, IT
2008 Gehard Demetz. Skulpturen, Kunstverein Villa Wessel, Iserlohn, DE
2007 Gehard Demetz, Galleria Rubin, Milan, IT
2006 Gehard Demetz, Comunità Comprensoriale Oltradige ‒ Bassa Atesina, Egna, Bolzano, IT
Gehard Demetz, Galerie Appel, Frankfurt, DE
2005 Gehard Demetz, Galleria Rubin, Milan, IT
2002 Gehard Demetz, Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü, St. Martin in Thurn, Bolzano, IT
Zimmer mit Frühstück / Camera con prima colazione, Kreis für Kunst und Kultur / Circulo Artistisco, St. Ulrich / Ortisei, IT

Group exhibitions (selection)

2022 In the Blink of an Eye, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Gazing of Tranquilitiy: Italian Contemporary Sculpture, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, CN
Stressed World, The School, Kinderhook, NY, US
Gazing of Tranquility: Italian Contemporary Sculpture, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, CN
Skulptur, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Gazing of Tranquility: Italian Contemporary Sculpture, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, CN
2019 Robots and Relics: Un-manned, Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE
King of the Hill, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, US
Off-Spring: New Generations, 21c Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, US
2017 Strange Beauty, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Sculptura, Galleria Doris Ghetta, Ortisei, Val Gardena, IT
Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, US
Legno‒Lën‒Holz. Un itinerario nella scultura contemporanea, Galleria Civica Trento, Trent, IT
Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose, Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio, US
2016 Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose, MOCA ‒ Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, US
2015 Winter in America, The School, Kinderhook, NY, US
Status Quo, The School, Kinderhook, NY, US
Beautiful Beast, New York Academy of Art, Wilkinson Gallery, New York, US
2014 hängengblieben ‒ 25 Jahre Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, DE
Im Dialog ‒ Gotik trifft Gegenwart, kunst raum rottweil ‒ Museum der Gegenwart/Dominikanermuseum Rottweil, Rottweil, DE
Beyond the Classical: Imagining the Ideal Across Time, National Academy Museum, New York, US
Additionen der Gegenwart. Zeitgenössische Kunst aus der Sammlung Frank Hense, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, DE
2013 Renaissance Reloaded, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2012 Panorama 4: Arte nuova in Alto Adige, Forte di Fortezza, Forteza, Bolzano, IT
+50 Sculture in Città tra Memoria (1962) e presente (2012), Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto, IT
2011 Rolli Days ‒ Strade e palazzi da vivere, Palazzo Luca Grimaldi, Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, IT
Lo stato dell'arte ‒ Trentino Alto Adige ‒ Südtirol, Padiglione Italia, 54. Biennale di Venezia per il 150° dell'Unità d'Italia, Palazzo Trentini, Trent, IT
2010 La scultura italiana del XXI secolo, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan, IT
Verbeelding uit Val Gardena, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, NL
Liebhaberstücke, Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr in der Alten Post, Mülheim an der Ruhr, DE
IndividuAnimal, Beck & Eggeling new quarters, Dusseldorf, DE
2009 Rolli Days ‒ Rolli Contemporanei, Palazzo Francesco Grimaldi, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Genoa, IT
2008 Molded, Folded and Found, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, US
Small Forms, Great Attitudes, Galleria Rubin, Milan, IT
2007 Kunstpreis für Bildhauerei Richard Agreiter, Museum Ladin, St. Martin in Thurn, Bolzano, IT
Portrait ‒ The View Behind, Galerie Robert Drees, Hanover, DE
SerrOne. Biennale Giovani Monza '07, Villa Reale, Monza, IT
Allarmi 3: Nuovo contingente, Caserma De Cristoforis, Como, IT
New Entries – Arte Italiana Contemporanea, Associazione Contemporaneamente, Milan, IT
Premio Rotary alla Professionalità, Rotary Lombardia, Teatro dal Verme, Milan, IT
2006 Ars in fabula, Palazzo Pretorio, Certaldo, IT
Premio Cairo 2006, Museo della Permanente, Milan, IT
Sculture da viaggio, Galleria Del Tasso, Bergamo, IT
2005 Familientreffen, Goethe2, Bolzano, IT
Gehard Demetz trifft Cy Twombly, Galerie tazl., Graz, AT
2003 Triennale Ladina, Museum Ladin, St. Martin in Thurn, Bolzano, IT
2001 Meisterwerke in Holz, Daetz-Centrum, Lichtenstein, DE
Open House, Salzburg, AT
2000 Expo2000, Hanover, DE

EXHIBITIONS AT BECK & EGGELING (SELECTION)

Publications

Gehard Demetz. Contenitore

Gehard Demetz. Contenitore

  • Artist: Gehard Demetz
    Editor: Ute Eggeling, Michael Beck
    Text: Gesine Borcherdt, Kirsten Nordahl
    Design: Beck & Eggeling (Antonia Eggeling)
  • English, German
    Hardcover, 28,5 x 22 cm
    56 pages, 28 illustrations
  • Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag, 2011
    ISBN 978-3-93091974-1
  • sold out
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STRANGE BEAUTY

STRANGE BEAUTY

  • Artists: Rania Akl, Gehard Demetz, Gerhard Altenbourg, Susanne Kühn, Nikos Aslanidis, Roger Ballen, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Bertozzi & Casoni, Herbert Beck, Louise Bourgeois, Joachim Brohm, Jewgeni Chaldej, Lucien Clergue, Heribert C. Ottersbach, Lorenza Diaz, Joachim Elzmann, Katsura Funakoshi, Marianna Gartner, Wolf Hamm, Aspassio Haronitaki, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Hoehme, Leiko Ikemura, Monica Ursina Jäger, Lia Kazakou, Julia Kissina, Jürgen Klauke, Daecheon Lee, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, Robert Longo, Robert Lucander, Xavier Mascaró, Richard Mosse, Hartmut Neumann, Chris Reinecke, Katharina Schilling, Norbert Schwontkowski, Valentina Seidel, Norbert Tadeusz, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Miriam Vlaming, Stefan à Wengen, Robert Wilson, Thomas Wrede
    Editor: Ute Eggeling, Michael Beck
    Text: Charles Baudelaire, Kirsten Nordahl
    Design: Beck & Eggeling (Antonia Eggeling, Martina Löhle)
  • English, German
    Softcover, 24 x 20 cm
    128 pages, 115 illustrations
  • Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag, 2017
    ISBN 978-3-94606312-4
  • 20 €
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Further publications

bibliography

Gehard Demetz. Contenitore, Düsseldorf 2011 (Text: Gesine Borcherdt, Kirsten Nordahl)
Gehard Demetz. Mutterland, l'età estranea, Paolo Galli (Hrsg./ed.), Fondazione Mimmo Rotella, Catanzaro 2011 (Text: Marco Meneguzzo)
Love at First Touch. Gehard Demetz, Cecilia Antolini (Hrsg./ed.), ex Chiesa di San Francesco, Como 2009 (Text: Cecilia Antolini)
Gehard Demetz. Sculptural Child Figures, Paolo Galli (Hrsg./ed.), Milano 2008 (Text: Luigi Fassi, Rolf Lauter)
Gehard Demetz, Galleria Rubin, Milano 2006 (Text: M. Sciaccaluga)

WEITERFÜHRENDE LITERATUR (Auswahl) / OTHER BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS (selection):
Joyce Beckenstein, Gehard Demetz. Jack Shainman Gallery (reviews), in: sculpture, December 2017, Vol. 36 No. 10, pp. 68-69
Kirsten Nordahl, »Le beau est toujours bizarre« Das Spiel mit der Realität und die Angst vor der Täuschung, in: Strange Beauty, Michael Beck, Ute Eggeling (Hrsg.), Düsseldorf 2017, S. 10, 15, 50-51
Sabine Scheltwort, Das verschlossene Paradies. Gehard Demetz und seine Holz-Kinder, in: kunnst, Sommer 2014, No 5, S. 14-19
David Galloway, Gehard Demetz. Beck & Eggeling new quarters (reviews: international), in: ARTnews, January 2012, pp. 122-123
sin autor, Gehard Demetz, in: ORIGAMA Arte y Cultura Contemporánea, Julio/Agosto 2012, pp. 48-61
Gérard Goodrow, Zwischen Werkstatt und Atelier. Ein Besuch beim Südtiroler Bildhauer Gehard Demetz, in: nicolai, N°3, Berlin 2012, S. 14-15
Tobia Moroder, The Extraneaous Age, in: Panorama. Arte nuova in Alto Adige (Ausst.-Kat./exhib. cat. Panoram4), Bozen 2012
Wonder Wood. Holz in Design, Architektur und Kunst, Barbara Glasner, Stephan Ott (Hrsg.), Basel 2011, S. 69-71
La scultura italiana del XXI secolo, Fondazione Arnoldo Pomodoro (Hrsg.), Milano 2011
Apostolos Mitsios, Gehard Demetz bares it all to Yatzer, in: Yatzer, Art, 13 February 2010 (online)
Apostolos Mitsios, The dark celebration of Gehard Demetz, in: Yatzer, Art, 01 October 2009 (online)
SerrOne. Biennale Giovani Monza 07, Milan 2007
Licia Spagnesi, L’età del dubbio, in: Arte Magazine, Maggio 2007, No 405, Roma 2007

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