The Grässlin Collection has unveiled its twelfth exhibition since 2006, transforming various locations throughout their hometown of St. Georgen, a former precision engineering center situated 2,822 feet high in the Black Forest. The comprehensive new permanent exhibition, titled "Im Land der Motive brennt kein Licht mehr" (In the Land of Motifs, No Light Burns Anymore) - named after a large digital print by Albert Oehlen - will remain on display until March 2027.
The exhibition showcases provocative artworks primarily from the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on German artists whose political themes remain strikingly relevant today. The collection belongs to three sisters - Bärbel, Sabine, and Karola Grässlin - whose parents, Dieter and Anna Grässlin, began collecting contemporary art while running their precision engineering company. Today, Bärbel Grässlin operates a leading international gallery in Frankfurt, Karola Grässlin serves as director of MUMOK in Vienna, and Sabine Grässlin manages the Kunstraum Grässlin in St. Georgen. The elegantly minimalist building housing rotating exhibitions is maintained and financed by the Grässlin Foundation.
The central question posed by the exhibition is "How do we live together?" The carefully curated works assembled by the Grässlin sisters neither can nor want to provide easy answers. Instead, they illustrate a present marked by disruption and crisis. The featured artists - with only one woman among them - include well-known names: Cosima von Bonin, Werner Büttner, Günther Förg, Georg Herold, Martin Kippenberger, Reinhard Mucha, Albert Oehlen, and Markus Oehlen. These artists belong to the first post-war generation and continue working successfully, though Günther Förg and Martin Kippenberger died young.
These artists had grown tired of the dominance of Concrete Art and Minimal Art, as well as the colorful intensity of the Neue Wilde movement. However, some could make good use of "bad painting" (more of an inheritance from late Picasso). They countered with provocative paintings, sculptures, and installations that now appear museum-worthy but retain their full aggressiveness and rebelliousness - created before the height of political correctness and cancel culture.
More than four decades after World War II ended, the parent generation still loomed large for these artists. National Socialism is addressed openly or subliminally: symbols associated with it appear, and war and post-war periods serve as recurring themes. Whether art should be political was a theoretical problem for this cohort, which they commented on through their works - sometimes pushing boundaries that would be considered questionable by today's standards.
In her introduction to the first tour, Karola Grässlin explained that visitors would see primarily the hardliners of the 1980s from the collection, which originated during that period. She noted that taboo subjects were addressed at that time, extending into the present, adding: "But please, don't be afraid of evil art!" This references Kippenberger's paintings from the series "First Unpurchased Pictures (War Evil)." One painting shows a man in a T-shirt and jeans - the classic uniform of nonconformists - urinating against the tracks of a tank standing in a desolate landscape colored in pop hues with mountains in the background. This painting hangs in a former factory building on Bahnhofstraße.
The hall houses Reinhard Mucha's large-scale installation "Der Bau" (The Construction), whose core was created in the early 1980s. The title deliberately evokes Franz Kafka's oppressive story, transferred to a present characterized by the dreariness of industrial components. The neon-lit station sign reading "Remscheid" appears to mock urbanity and mobility. The old factory also displays provocative works by Kai Althoff, Mike Kelley, Manuel Ocampo, and Chéri Samba.
In the entrance of the Kunstraum hangs Günther Förg's large-format color photograph of the EUR Palazzo della Civiltà in Rome, demonstrating the ambivalent atmosphere of fascist architecture. The central position belongs to Cosima von Bonin's "Missy Misdemeanour 2" from 2011: a 30-foot-long PVC rocket ridden by a grotesque wounded plush giant chick, pushing the ironic commentary of 1980s artists to the point of absurdity. Similarly, Kippenberger's cynical series "What's Going On Sunday?" from 1982 offers activity suggestions - an update now provided by social media.
Nearby, Georg Herold presents "Russian Marmalade (Caviar)" in an assemblage of bricks and wooden slats on canvas, or celebrates "40 Years of Skim Milk" in bright yellow against a dark background. The expanded family home can also be visited. In the stylish interior, Albert Oehlen's "Self-Portrait with Skull" draws attention - an angry adaptation of the classical subject - alongside Werner Büttner's "Bathing Russians," showing combat boots and discarded uniforms at the seaside. Indeed, Russian soldiers do seek the sea, not just for bathing.
Bärbel Grässlin states it clearly: "The genesis of our collection - only men." In any case, this presentation deals with male bonding: the Oehlen brothers, Kippenberger, and Förg certainly formed such a group. How could it be otherwise? Equally true: this holds up a mirror to the (not only) Federal Republican social reality until (at least) 1989. Those who find their way to St. Georgen will be rewarded with considerable insight that only art can provide.
The exhibition "Im Land der Motive brennt kein Licht mehr" runs at Kunstraum Grässlin in St. Georgen until March 31, 2027. Guided tours cost 15 euros per person and can be arranged by calling 07724/9161805 or emailing info@sammlung-graesslin.eu. The exhibition companion booklet costs five euros.
