10 July – 22 August 2009
For his third show at Sadie Coles HQ Daniel Sinsel revisits and expands on a number of his key themes, subjects and forms.
Alongside new paintings and sculptures, there are works that resist easy categorisation, seeming to fall – as so often with Sinsel – between genres and media. A predominate concern is the exploration of shapes – cut-outs, slits, simple geometrical forms – and the various ways in which they define and negate space. Sinsel’s isolation, dissection and reconfiguration of essential shapes and objects betray an underlying minimalist impulse. In one painting tropical leaves are perforated with implausibly perfect circles, investing them with a sculptural character. Another painting constitutes a hard record of experiments in cutting and folding paper;and trompe l’oeil continues as a recorder appears to thread in and out of the canvas. In terms of its prevailing interest in shape, this exhibition forms an unlikely yet illuminating conceptual counterpoint to Carl Andre’s, on at the same time in South Audley Street.
The notion of the fragment also plays a central role. Chocolate bars are disassembled and re-assembled. A plaster sculpture of a foot incongruously grasping a recorder calls to mind fragmented classical sculpture, and conjures up images of pastoral mythology, Arcadia and the figure of Pan – themselves elements of a fragmented record. In the context of Sinsel’s body of work as a whole, this piece also carries a sexual undercurrent: the fetish of the foot and the inter-changeability and ambiguity of forms are rendered manifest.
28 March – 28 April 2007 Grete, erregt
For his second solo show at the gallery, London-based artist Daniel Sinsel presents new works made of a range of materials. Mostly wall-based, the pieces rely on the conventions of viewing panel paintings but also act as found objects that we encounter rather than read into. His work evokes the traditions of the German Bauhaus of the 1920s and 30s whilst maintaining a distinct balance between visual function and décor. Sinsel’s work remains independent of any existing design or architectural industry, but rather serves and provides the enclosed system and personal language of Sinsel's own vision. Pastry and chocolate have been recreated in durable matter like linen, wax, pigment or concrete, but have the gleam of a precious artifact.
The handcrafted character of the work also emphasizes its material properties. Many of the materials have distinctly cultural and traditional references. Sinsel is interested in the general lure that emanates from certain substances due to a historically lent aura or integral physical quality rather than a specific historical weight.
In his paintings on linen, such as the portrait of a woman with chocolate and ribbons, Sinsel employs an explanatory simplicity that is reminiscent of Early Renaissance painting. The works carry a refined intensity and sensuality, and combine playfulness with melancholy. The works also strongly relate to the body. Although they can be seen as wearable or ingestible, or as physically enveloping or capturing us, we detect a distance in his works that pushes them into the realm of fetishism.
The German title of the show, "Grete, erregt", could translate as "Grete excited", "Grete agitated" or "Grete aroused". It derives from Sinsel's inspiration for the show, the fairytale of Hansel & Gretel, a story the artist appreciated as erotically entertaining. Or so he says.
Daniel Sinsel was born in Bavaria and studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College. He was selected for New Contemporaries in 2002 and Becks Futures at the ICA in 2006. A monograph of his work was published by Sadie Coles HQ in 2005.
11 May - 2 July 2005
Sadie Coles HQ is pleased to present new works by Daniel Sinsel, a new artist for the gallery.
Central to Daniel Sinsel’s work is an experimentation with materials. Foreign elements such as precious stones, horns and horse hair become appendages to the painted canvas. Alternatively the canvas makes way for an eclectic range of objects; a recurring choice is delicately painted suspended eggs. By and large, Sinsel works on an intimate scale, combining technical virtuosity in his painting with a fascination for craft.
Sinsel’s original approach to materials is met by an equally unusual subject matter. Knives, nuts, eggs and wood cross back and forth as instruments, supports and motifs. He paints saintly men and young boys from porn magazines with the same meticulous reverence. In earlier works, homoerotic scenes are played out in traditional landscapes, while more recently overt sexual imagery has given way to sensuously coiled ribbons, entwined within the coils of a pretzel or floating about a levitating bodiless bikini.
References to art history together with nods to broader creative traditions combine in Sinsel’s painting with a very personal, contemporary iconography. The works emanate a sense of calm serenity, tinged on occasion with melancholy and often with playfulness and wit.
Daniel Sinsel was born in Germany in 1976 and now lives and works in London. He studied for his foundation course and BA in painting at Chelsea College of Art and Design and went on to complete an MA in painting at the Royal College of Art in 2004. He was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2002. His work has been included in various group shows.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of the first monograph on the artist.