Florian Slotawa

Apr 9th – May 28th, 2016
Galerie von Bartha, Basel

Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Copyright Galerie von Bartha, Basel

In his second exhibition at von Bartha, the conceptual artist Florian
Slotawa presents a selection of new works in which he pairs objects
painted in car paint lacquers with readymade objects in matching or
complementary colours.
Slotawa has recently become preoccupied with found colour, in particular
those he observes on cars on the streets of Berlin. Rather than
attempting to recreate a shade he dedicates himself to finding the
specific colour by noting the car type, taking pictures and if possible
researching the vintage of the car. He then has the exact colour mixed
by an expert car varnisher which he paints onto aluminium panels and
found objects, which come together as sculpture and wall works.
Exhibiting two objects side by side, in the same or corresponding tone,
the strength of the colour creates a synergy between the components and
lends the finished piece a painterly quality.
The accompanying readymade objects which Slotawa pairs the painted
panels with are also found by chance. For example in one work,
Volkswagen C6T (Jadegrün met.) (2015) the colour of a plastic pair of
safety goggles in Slotawa’s studio happened to be a close match to the
jade green the artist selected from a Volkswagen C6T parked outside.
The new works in the von Bartha exhibition are a continuation of
Slotawa’s fascination with found objects and the shift in their meanings
when the objects are placed in different contexts such as moving them
from an everyday environment into a gallery space. Through this shift
from the private to the public sphere, he explores how the process of
displacement not only re- purposes items, but alters the perception of
the space in which they are displayed.

About Florian Slotawa

Florian Slotawa is an Italian-based artist who frequently rearranges and recontextualises existing objects.

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