“What the fuck is Heimat?” is Stefan Strumbel‘s rhetorical question that serves as the title for the artist’s latest exhibition being shown at Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin. The gallery tries to help by explaining that “[Heimat] can be considered as a metaphor for experiences of socialisation and for the establishment of identity, which appears anachronistic in a globalised and digitised world” which may or may not have cleared things right up for you.
Strumbel became known for his cuckoo clock sculptures that comment on the decreasing popularity of souvenirs from German speaking lands through an erosion of the objects’ traditional attributes – colourfulness, Germanic fonts and language etc. In what the fuck is heimat?* Strumbel uses canvases, prints, objects and sculptures to transform ethnic clichés through the use of Anglicisms, cultural appropriations and Pop Art symbolism. The choice of high gloss surfaces acting as a mirror prompt the viewer to consider the factors through which they define themselves culturally, socially and existentially. Closing date for this show is 1 November.
@CircleCultureG
@StefanStrumbel
what the fuck is heimat?*
Installation View, 2014
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
Stefan Strumbel
Fachwerk (Cluster 44), 2014
Fine art print and neon paper
540 x 240 x 1 cm
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
what the fuck is heimat?*
Installation View, 2014
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
Stefan Strumbel
Dirty Bambi Holy, 2014
Spray paint on hand carved timber sculpture
49,5 x 54 x 25 cm
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
Stefan Strumbel
Fade Away (July), 2014
Spray paint on canvas
290 x 190 x 4,5 cm
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
what the fuck is heimat?*
Installation View, 2014
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
Stefan Strumbel
Starker Wind, 2014
Spray paint on hand carved timber sculpture
180 x 300 cm
Courtesy, Circle Culture Gallery
Photo, anna.k.o.
