« Plastic World » exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.

“Le pré” – © Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2023 – Foto: Norbert Miguletz

Evelyne Axell works in major exhibition on Plastic in Art.

June 22 – October 1, 2023.

Plastic as a material has radically changed art and society within a brief window in time. Plastic is the miracle substance from which nearly all conceivable things can be produced—from sneakers to false teeth to computers. Plastic can assume almost any form, can be hard or flexible, transparent, opaque, patterned, smooth, delicate, or colorful. For art, plastic was and is a vehicle of innovation.

The exhibition “Plastic World” is dedicated to this central material in contemporary art. It is a symptom and symbol of our mass society, which has also been a throwaway society at the latest since the 1950s. The exhibition thus opens up a broad panorama of the artistic use and assessment of plastic that reflects the respective social context and frequently holds surprises: from the euphoria of Pop culture in the 1960s to the futuristic influence of the space age and the trash works of Nouveau Réalisme, architectural utopias, and experiments with the properties of materials, to the ecocritical positions of recent years.

“Buste de femme aux yeux fermés”, “Portrait de femme vert” – © Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2023 – Foto: Norbert Miguletz

Though at first less prominently, female artists such as Nicola L., Evelyne Axell, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Lourdes Castro were also increasing taking up the molding of the body in the surroundings of Pop Art. Evelyne Axell created self-confident female nudes in erotic poses, while Niki de Saint Phalle with her Nanas turned voluptuous female figures that defied social norms into icons of a feminist history of art.

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Römerberg
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
T +49 69 2998820
welcome@schirn.de
www.schirn.de

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