Jens Kothe

BIO | SELECTED WORKS | cv

Jens Kothe presents tactile wall objects echoing the human body, the physical self. Take for instance the oval round cavities, like navels cut from the belly. As if they were enlarged body parts, Kothe’s objects are executed in muted, fleshy colours and shaped in slightly convex surfaces and soft curves begging to be touched. At the same time they often make you think of familiar elements of everyday life, such as benches. By making use of materials that evoke a certain intimacy, the artist welcomes the viewer into a private atmosphere. Although his works refer to the human body, it is never the human body as a whole. Instead it’s fragmented, degraded even, somehow trapped between its organic origins and the industrial world in which it is supposed to function, thus reflecting the struggle of man against the machine. ens Kothe (Germany, 1985) lives and works in Bochum and Düsseldorf. His work examines the “bodyness“ and sensuality of materials and objects from daily life like easy fabrics, tiles, glass and wood. He examines his environment, objects or bodies by taking photos,modelling with clay or taking moulds from body parts where he tries to document atmosphere. Jens Kothe’s objects work like pictures but mainly as “persons opposite“. The objects creates a physical presence in the room and so the aspect of atmosphere becomes relevant again. With all presence, the objects are also fragment like structures that arrouses tension. Tension between the observers eyes, that strives for entirety, and the picture he is confronted with. In 2019 Jens Kothe had a solo at Berthold Pott in Cologne, Germany and in 2020 he participated in the group shows ‘Drink Liquid’ at Kunsthaus Essen, ‘SQUISH’ at Efremidis Gallery, Berlin and ‘ɔːtəˈmatɪk’ at Barbé Urbain in Ghent, Belgium.