SPENCER BROWNSTONE GALLERY

Martin Wöhrl
kontrapost
February 29th – April 5th, 2008.
Opening Friday, February 29th, 6-8pm

Spencer Brownstone Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition of new work by Munich based sculptor
Martin Wöhrl, the artist’s first exhibition in the United States.

Wöhrl’s wide-ranging practice routinely incorporates reinterpreted motifs and strategies drawn from the
history of art, architecture, and design, and is characterized by an elliptical skirting of the borders between
form and function. Often using found objects or materials sourced form budget DIY and hardware stores,
the artist has crafted elevated minimalist platforms that can be enjoyed as sculpture - or used as stages or
seating. He has produced a series of fish tanks modeled on utopian modernist housing, and standing
lamps from recycled junk. His ongoing ‘Gloriole’ decorative wall works fashion baroque radiating halos
from discarded shards of wood left on his workshop floor.

For his exhibition at Spencer Brownstone Gallery, Wöhrl presents several new ‘Gloriole’ pieces alongside
works specially created in-situ at the gallery. Springing from the art historical concept of ‘Kontrapost’, the
works are orchestrated as a series of unfolding dialectical conversations. The exhibition’s centerpieces will
be architectural structures in the form of columns, and two major new pieces constructed from old wooden
doors that have been carved, using power tools, into a large heraldic wall work, and a freestanding
'billboard' featuring disassembled brand lettering.

The handcrafted detailing and sensitivity to color and patina sets the artist’s work apart from much
contemporary critical discourse on the relationship between art and design. Wöhrl’s work ultimately offers
a more rich, inclusive traversal of our shifting definitions of the aesthetic and the functional.

Martin Wöhrl was born in Munich, Germany, in 1974 and studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in the city
before completing his studies at Glasgow School of Art through a DAAD Fellowship in 2002. Recent solo exhibitions
include ‘New Works’ at Villa Concordia, Bamberg, and ‘Papa Bifi’ at Atelier Wilhelmstraße 16 e.V., Stuttgart, as well
as several solo exhibitions at Sprüth/Magers Projekte, Munich. The artist has participated in group exhibitions at
venues internationally, including Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico-City; 4th Berlin Biennial; W139, Amsterdam; and
Lenbachhaus, Munich.

Please contact the gallery for further information or images.

39 Wooster Street, New York, 10013 Tue - Sat, 10am - 6pm

Tel: 212.334.3455 Fax: 212.274.1157 www.spencerbrownstonegallery.com