Hans Scheib – Ni Hao

ZAK Center for Contemporary Art – Zeughaus

4 May – 4 August 2019

The sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist Hans Scheib presents current sculptures and graphics as part of an extensive solo exhibition in the historic pillar hall of the Zeughaus. Born in Potsdam in 1949, Scheib studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1971-1976 and, with artist friends such as Peter Herrmann, A.R. Penck and Strawalde, he was one of the young neo-expressive artists of the GDR. Already during his studies in Dresden, but especially after his move to East Berlin in 1976, it became clear that Scheib’s art was difficult to fit into the expectation horizons of any art doctrine.

To this day, the human figure is at the center of his ouevre, often revealing itself as a tragic and comic victim of his own hubris. Social disciplinary apparatuses, narrow political power structures and interpersonal tragedies allow Hans Scheib to develop an image of man that is both broken and resistant. After moving to West-Germany in 1985, Scheib experienced the end of the GDR and German reunification up close. In his charismatic sculptures and graphics, he became a chronicler of the new era.

Again and again Hans Scheib devoted himself not only to the everyday, but also to the great materials of classical mythology. In it he finds supernatural images not only for the absurdities and frictions of the human, but also for his own search for unconditional truth and timeless beauty.

 

ill. Hans Scheib, Ni Hao (detail), wood and color, 2006, 169x25x25 cm; Photo: Sebastian Schobbert, Graphic: Bernhard Rose