Spider webs and radical Body Art: Annegret Soltau at Richard Saltoun gallery

The artwork of one of the most radical artists of the 20th century is showcased at the London’s gallery. Soltau explores the subtle threshold between humanity and monstrosity, obsession and personal transformation.

Spider’s web and radical Body Art: Annegret Soltau at the Richard Saltoun gallery Detail from Meine verlorenen Haare [My lost hair] (1977). Set of 365 works, each composed of human hair affixed to paper, along with a set of 11 vintage b&w photographs.

Spider’s web and radical Body Art: Annegret Soltau at the Richard Saltoun gallery Permanente Demonstration am 19.01.1976, 1976/2008 (detail). Set of 6 black and white Iris print photographs. 60 x 50 cm

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Giulia Ronchi
20 February 2020
London
exhibition
2020

The Richard Saltoun gallery in London opens its first solo show of Annegret Soltau (Lunenburgo, Germany, 1946), an artist part of the Body Art movement and the Feminist thinking.

Spider is a partial reconstruction of the historical exhibition showcased at the Galerie Karin Friebe of darmstadt in 1978, containing her most historical and emblematic works: such as large-scale photographic engravings, wire installations, stitched photographs and Spider drawings. The most famous are her Wrapping Actions: the artist wraps herself and other volunteers in black thread until distorting the connotations and touching the limit between humanity and monstrosity. His “Aracne’s canvas”, we could say, become a way to face the themes of fragility, limitation, identity and transformation.

Spider
Annagret Soltau
Richard Saltoun
21 february - 2 April 2020
41 Dover St, Mayfair, London W1S 4NS, Londra