Gerold Miller
Section + Verstärker
21 July – 31 August 2017
In our summer exhibition this year, we present new works by Berlin artist GEROLD MILLER (b 1961 in Altshausen, D). From the start, the artist has focused on the question of how to depart from the classical feld of painting and to free image-finding from traditional patterns of visualisation. GEROLD MILLER found the answer in radical reduction and monochrome colouration. His major solo exhibition in the Kunsthalle Weishaupt in Ulm, in 2016, was at once retrospective and prospective. Early works from the mid-1980s, entitled ANLAGEN, already illustrated his refections on the subjects of work, surface and space: gloss paint dripped over a steel frame assigns the space its own status as part of the art-work. Steel, and later aluminium, replace canvas as the classical picture support. The monochrome colouration becomes the hallmark and unique distinguishing feature.
In the group of works entitled SECTION, now exhibited for the first time, GEROLD MILLER expands his vocabulary with the clear, simple shape of the rectangle, up-ended on to a corner which has been cut of. Each resulting pentagon is divided into two monochrome components: black/white, red/blue and black matt/black gloss. The three large-scale works refect the viewer as well as the surrounding space, which is dominated by free-standing sculptures called VERSTÄRKER [amplifiers]. These objects, which consist of three struts, literally amplify our spatial perception: height, width and depth illustrate vividly their three-dimensionality.
GEROLD MILLER has always used the device of repetition in his work. When he has decided on a form, he varies it – whether in his SECTION series or in the VERSTÄRKER – by modifying colour and size. Through its height of 220 cm alone, the glossy red "amplifer" draws all eyes to itself, its monochrome colouration giving it an elegant, majestic appearance. The smallest "amplifer" in our exhibition is remarkable for its bold combination of pink/red/black. The gilded, polished aluminium of further angles conveys a costly, exquisite materiality.