Thomas Schütte

About

One of the most important figures in contemporary art, Thomas Schutte's work encompasses many different media. His search for the most appropriate technique to create individual pieces often leads him to pursue unusual and unexpected strategies. Schutte's practice ignores the specifics of any given discipline and his sculptures, prints, drawings and installations often allude to his own earlier work whilst at the same time referencing objects from pop culture and art history.

The central works in this exhibition are five large-scale female figures cast in bronze or steel. This series was started in 1999 and the selection shown here includes the last of the figures that the artist intends to create. The forms of some of the individual sculptures invoke notions of voluptuous 'seated' or 'reclining' nudes in a somewhat naturalistic style while others appear more abstracted. With their highly tactile surfaces and often contorted, truncated shapes they are both sensual and somehow awkward.

Also on show will be a suite of large prints, which relate to the casts, a selection of new watercolour paintings and the maquette for Schutte's large 'architectural model' which will be installed on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth later in the year.