It was five o’clock in the morning and it had snowed heavily during the night when F. Freyja looked out her window and spotted a woman on the street pulling a sledge behind her. A child was sitting in the sledge, leaning against a rucksack. “That was so crazy,” says the artist from Solln. She just had to grab the camera and capture the scene. A mother and her child on a sledge at five o’clock in the morning – really: it was simply crazy. And now the two are hanging as a picture in the Pullacher Bürgerhaus, at the annual exhibition of the artists’ group Munich South. F. Freyja edited the photography. Thick snowflakes dance like stars through the picture, from which a cozy warmth emanates. Although it must have been bitterly cold that winter night.
After the annual exhibition had to be canceled last year due to the pandemic, 23 members of the artists’ group Munich South are showing their works this year. “Doppelspiel” was the motto of the canceled show, and because the artists are now presenting some of their works at the annual exhibition 2021 (until December 2nd), there are many ambiguities to see in the community center. Images that only appear in a double pack. Images that complement or contrast with one another. The exhibition shows “the spectrum between professional art and amateur art quite well,” said Hannah Stegmayer, director of the community center, at the vernissage.
The world is a sphere and at the same time the key to everything: Daniel Castiglione’s welding work “key role”.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
It is in the nature of collective exhibitions that they offer the eye a variety of styles, working techniques and creative approaches. With abstract and figurative works in acrylic and oil, with mixed techniques and watercolors, with object art and photography, the show is almost a concentrate of what art can be. And because there were no sculptures in our own ranks, two guest artists, Johannes Hofbauer and Willi E. Seitz, were invited to the exhibition this year. Seitz processes the wood of disused doors or furniture into sculptures and wall objects, he takes it apart and gives it a new meaning, the old slats of a garden fence then become a “wave”, a bizarre, beautiful object in shades of green. Hofbauer, on the other hand, who was awarded the Schwabing Art Prize in 2021, originally came from the wood turning trade, studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Hildesheim and has been a sculptor since 1996. He works the wood with a saw, often with a chainsaw, making numerous small cuts that line up like swirls, making the wood supple and pliable. “In his work you can see very well how mastery of the craft is the basis for free, abstract work,” said Stegmayer. In the case of the sculptures, Daniel Castiglione should be mentioned, who welded 140 keys together to form an imposing sphere; Johannes von Peckenzell’s objects are also worth a look, as they are the work of a creative collector and tinkerer who obviously takes great pleasure in creating an “Egyptian deity” from tubes and wires and flashing lamps. With all due respect, that’s a bit weird – but also very refreshing. The two landscape paintings contributed by Jochen Brunsmann this year are completely different: in the style of Japanese ink paintings, he shows two regions of Europe with the Italian Chianti and the Alpine foothills, giving hills, cypresses and fog a delicate contouring whose appeal is difficult to escape . Renate Ross, too, is evidently dealing intensively with Japan: She painted a red sun on a kimono, but provided it with rays. The version of the sun with 16 red rays was used by the Japanese armed forces until the end of the Second World War, and then again by the Japanese navy from 1954, explained Stegmayer in her speech. “In the surrounding Asian countries, which were occupied by Japan, this flag still evokes negative associations.”
A snake-like wooden sculpture by Johannes Hofbauer, recipient of the Schwabing Art Prize 2021.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Most of the works contain less social criticism: there are the well-balanced watercolors by Antje Reck, the abstract “gardens” by Inge Schmidt and the pastel-colored islands that Eva Großhennig designed in oil and which, viewed from a distance, are reminiscent of a field of tulips. Gabriele Rodler, chairwoman of the artists’ group Munich South, created the foaming power of the sea under the names “Wasser I” and “Wasser II” in shades of green. “It always becomes a landscape for me, even if the picture is very abstract,” she says calmly.
Also this year the artist, who grew up in Pullach, took care of the organization, printed flyers, made arrangements with the artists, hung pictures and made sure that an appointment was found. Now she stands a little to one side, looks at the visitors in the community center, who drift through the rows of pictures. Sometimes they pause here, sometimes there, some seem to really immerse themselves in art. What the people of Pullach like best will probably remain a secret in 2021. The audience award, which is usually awarded for the annual exhibition, has to pause due to the corona. The necessary hygiene measures would be too time-consuming, says Rodler.