Wertical is currently showing a group exhibition at Michael Horbach foundation. Wertical I examines the male-dominated art industry, beginning with a selection of 18 male artists including Andreas Schulze, Devin Troy Strother and Joakim Ojanan. In December 2017, the second show will open dedicated to female artists.
Wertical began four years ago as an online journal, and this has been their first foray into gallery showcase. The exhibition springs from the belief that art should be genderless, which sits at odds with the industry’s weighting towards men. While figures are moving in the right direction–32% of those leading museums in 2005 were women compared to 42.6% in 2015 (although these figures can be a little deceiving as many of the female roles handle the smaller budgets)–the industry is still far from equal.
This first show includes emerging and well-established artists and despite the gender-split and examination of this industry weighting, the works themselves are not focussed primarily on these subjects, though there is a tension present between typically ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ energies within the work, creating a blurring of distinctions which will be interesting to explore in line with the second show. Our ideas of where, and who, particular works have sprung from are often incredibly cliched. The artists themselves here become a point of focus, viewers invited to consider the relationship between artist and work, as well as connections back to the artists’ lifestyles and interests. This is an all male show, what does ‘male’ look like?
This also widens out to our overall understanding of character and creator. The majority of artists in the show make characterful work, and names such as Strother and Ojanan immediately call to mind a certain, and very specific aesthetic and language that feels inherently connected to the artists’ particular sense of humour. While these works look out to the world, commenting on topics that are both light and deadly serious, it is impossible to ignore the reflection back to the internal world of the maker. Or, perhaps this interior world we link to the artist is one we have connected ourselves simply because of the work’s exuberant character.
Other artists such as Thomas Wachholz and Stefan Strumbel appear a little more elusive, their characters and backgrounds that bit more difficult to pull from the work. The more the works are explored in this light, the more predictable it seems to take certain qualities in the work for granted as qualities in the artist. Why should humour–of which there is much in this show–always be the marker of a personal connection, where a more solemn work might seem to be more outward facing?
‘Wertical I‘ is showing until 29 January.
