Anselm Reyle German, b. 1970
Reyle's fascination for high gloss effects and decorative material taken from the merchandising world frames his critique of kitsch, and what the artist has described as “a tightrope walk that can be painful all the way.” This critique deals frankly with the distinction between the normative categories of “high art” and “low-culture”,
and questions where these extremes merge. Reyle is able to make work that operates as a witness to our time and that prompts reflection on the prevailing values of our consumer culture.
Anselm Reyle lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. Since 2009 the artist has held a position as a professor of Painting/Drawing at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.
Anselm Reyle's work is all about the interplay between high art and everyday detritus. He elevates the overlooked — like foil, Plexiglas, or automotive paint — into something dazzling and slick, yet still raw and reflective of consumer excess. His foil paintings, especially, are iconic: they shimmer with metallic textures, housed in Perspex boxes that both display and contain, creating this weird tension between glamor and garbage.
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Untitled, 2008
