Roman Gysin Really Rustic
03.09.2021 - 30.10.2021Galerie Christian Lethert is delighted to show the first exhibition of Swiss sculptor Roman Gysin. Really Rustic combines wall objects with an installation by the artist which reflect his analysis of materiality and its possibilities of transformation as well as the fascination for decorative phenomena in everyday life and their potential for distinction.
A partition wall obstructs direct access to the exhibition space. The exhibition space can only be accessed by following the route defined by the artist where his wall installations are presented. The objects feature different techniques and materials and only the horizontal structure reoccurs in all his works as also in the way of hanging. Narrow wooden battens covered in lustrous satin fabric invoke contradictory associations with ventilation shafts and iridescent lady’s blouses; coarsely chopped wooden beams covered with fabric have an effect like boulder walls; and the work, which leaves the wooden material visible, is draped with fine chiffon, suggesting folds reminiscent of the paintings of old masters. Gysin plays masterfully with contradictions and polarities and this is also how the title of his exhibition Really Rustic should be conceived: It is worth questioning whether the attribution »rustic, robust, dignified« should be emphasized or merely exposed as an alleged attribution.