Renaissance by Daniel Spoerri

This work is very typical of the artist and his expressiveness. Found objects - consisting of a twisted wooden Renaissance column, a hand, a heart and an angel's head - are combined and unified by means of the bronze casting. The Renaissance, the beginning of the new age, also allows the observer a new, individual interpretation of this work. An earthquake inspired the theme: the column, in its supporting function, is a symbol for all constructions, whereas the Sicilian earth was confronted with the violent destruction of the earthquake. It also represents the resurrection of the destroyed city of Giballina.

Daniel Spoerri, 1930, Galati, Romania

Spoerri is a Swiss object artist of Romanian descent. Following initial work as a dancer and director in Bern and Darmstadt, he resettled in Paris in 1959 and in 1960 became one of the co-founders of Nouveau Realisme. In the same year his 'Fallenbilder' ('Random Pictures') emerged, which extract incidental situations from their natural context onto table surfaces and affix them there unaltered. In 1968, Spoerri opened a restaurant in Düsseldorf and published an edition of 'Eat-Art', in which humour and irony were prominent in expressing the neo-Dadaist identification of art and life. As a principal representative of Nouveau Realisme, Daniel Spoerri transports normal objects into his artwork, thereby often ironically bridging the gap between art and everyday culture.