Anselm Reyle

Anselm Reyle, born in 1970 in Tübingen, Germany, currently resides and works in Berlin. A prominent figure in the international contemporary art scene, he has held a professor position at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg since 2009, following his studies at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. Reyle is renowned for his large-scale abstract paintings and sculptures, which incorporate unconventional materials such as Mylar foil and mirrors. His work is characterised by the use of various found objects that have been removed from their original function, altered visually, and recontextualised.

Initially interested in landscape design and music, Reyle later developed his own varied approach to art, adopting a pictorial practice involving large abstract works that blur the line between painting and sculpture. Material experimentation is the cornerstone of the artist’s practice, which combines aluminium, mirrors and neon lights. His work, whose vibrant spontaneity contrasts with its technical complexity, references various currents within abstract art across the 20th century.

One of Reyle's best-known ongoing series are his foil paintings, abstract works created by meticulously arranging and installing foil in coloured perspex boxes. They contain a tantalising contradiction, their crumpled, glossy materiality evoking the sense of touch while the perspex boxes deny a tactile experience. The stripe paintings are another well-known series of the artist, which showcase his use of disruption. Here, elements such as a fold in a sheet of foil or a blot of paint serve as a standardised signature or a stripe cut at the edge of the pictorial plane. This composition is one that he revisits often, rendering it in new materials and colours each time. Over the years Reyle increasingly made use of mirrors, special-effects pastes, and lights, as well as incorporating artist’s frames into his work.

In recent years, Reyle has worked with ceramics, developing large format, vase-like sculptures with encrusted surfaces in striking colours. He continues to develop his painting practice, often using coarse burlap and integrating his signature gestures into new mediums, continuing to work on the boundary between painting and sculpture.

Reyle's work is a dialogue about the role of modernism today, reflecting on the lessons of abstraction and their place in contemporary painting. His art often disrupts the viewer’s cultural bearings by imbuing familiar urban objects new meanings.

Anselm Reyle has held numerous solo exhibitions, including shows at the Modern Institute, Glasgow, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris and Kunsthalle, Zurich. His works have also been featured in group exhibitions at Tate Modern, London and Palazzo Grassi, Venice. His work is held in numerous private and public collections worldwide, including Centre Pompidou, Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, Pinault Collection, Venice, Saatchi Gallery, London and Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul.

Portrait of Anselm Reyle © Verena Bruening

SELECTED WORKS

Anselm Reyle, Untitled, 2016

143 x 122 x 17 cm | 56.3 x 48 x 6.7 in