Hermann Josef Mispelbaum. Depth of the line
From April 11, 2024, the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum will be showing a multi-layered retrospective of Hermann Josef Mispelbaum's oeuvre on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
The exhibition presents large-format paintings, drawings, prints and collaged paper cuts by the Aachen artist, in which he explores current events and questions about human existence. Two sculptures complete the show. Born in Übach-Palenberg in 1944, Mispelbaum received his training at the Werkkunstschule Aachen under Ernst Wille and as a master student of Rupprecht Geiger at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
In contact with Geiger's color-intensive works, Mispelbaum limited his color palette to black, white and gray tones, with which he expressed a wide range of topics relating to people, their reality of life and the state of the earth in a large format. In his drawings, for example, a circle that represents the globe is a recurring motif with which Medpelbaum reflects social structures, existential problems and human suffering.
Traces of erased image details, which appear shadowy next to newly added elements, make the processual creation of the drawings visible. From 1997 onwards, Mispelbaum also transferred his complex visual language into three dimensions. He created large-scale sculptural works in which he treated everyday objects with glue, plaster and paint and then reworked them with drawings. Although the aesthetic effect of the broken surfaces plays an important role when viewing his works, it is the content that is in the foreground for Mispelbaum. His humorous titles in dialogue with the work of art are an expression of his critical view of current events and social issues.
Curators: Wibke Vera Birth, Sena-Marie Cirit
