THINGS
ART AND ECONOMICS – A VOYAGE ON A SHIP WITHOUT A PILOT
Stefan Horsthemke, 2013
Translated by Tim Connell
Willi Bongard’s taboo-breaking Kunst & Kommerz – Zwischen Passion und Spekulation (Art & Commerce – Between Passion and Speculation) caused a scandal when it was first published in the 1960s. Nowadays, there’s scarcely a shelf in the homes of the so-called educated middle classes, hardly a section in the large bookstores that doesn’t have rows of books on “Art and Investment”. After years of banishment, the topic now graces the arts sections of the serious papers – not a single weekend passes without new records being set, new figures, information and facts. A love that is unloved. And yet a love that isn’t new. Those seminal, now iconic works in the long history of art would not, indeed, could not have existed if they hadn’t been commissioned or at least supported by financially powerful patrons. And the question regarding the value of art – nothing new it must be said – edges itself back into play. From an economic point of view, definitely quantifiable up to a point, calculable. But what does art do to us? What is its purpose?
Roland Schappert goes to the places where it hurts, in this case, a place where we educate our future – at least the future that will decide how we develop economically and will influence how our life will be. And initially, it doesn’t hurt at all. An excellent university that does what it’s supposed to do: to equip people on the highest level with all the commercial and entrepreneurial abilities they will need in order to design their and our futures successfully. And then slap bang in the middle of it all there’s this writing, reminiscent of graffiti. Painted in the corridors, for example. Signs that become letters on long sweeps of orange wall – letters that finally form a sentence: PILOTING HAS ITS BOUNDARIES, THE OPEN SEA. A sentence which prompts us to stop and think for a short while, making us sense the reason why art exists – a sentence which reminds us that ultimately it is up to us what we do and up to the students to decide what they will do when they leave the comparatively safe haven of university.
Roland Schappert doesn’t just work with words. Formal implementation is just as much a central statement of his work as the carefully crafted and arduously decoded final sentence. It’s not just letters and words, arranged in familiar rows one after another, for each individual letter is an artwork in its own right. The artist speaks about the open sea – and thus about the prospect of endless possibility. He writes, but not in a traditional sense. He writes without abiding by the things we have learned; he plays with the viewer. Perhaps that is the central message to the students and the answer to the question about the value of art. Schappert urges us to implement independently all we have learned, to conceive things anew and to interpret them for ourselves. We have all learned to read and write, but the artist teaches us to take an alternative route and allow our projections to become reality. It is also a challenge to his audience. The open sea. Piloting has its boundaries. Only time will tell what each individual makes of it – art doesn’t have an answer, it only poses the question.
Up on the next floor, the artist is again working with what he has found there. Again, first of all, the graffiti effect. At second glance, as in the case of the first work, the individual visual elements are perhaps reminiscent of Paul Klee, Matt Mullican or Christopher Wool, yet reinterpreted, applied in the framework of the overall script. The letter as an artwork. Possibilities that open themselves up to us. And another sentence. A sentence which reminds us what responsibility is and how privileged we are. WHILE OTHERS WERE BUSY PLUCKING WOOL FROM THE BACKS OF SHEEP. Need one say more?
And then onwards and upwards, where the artist finally begins to turn the screw. DOES YOUR HAPPINESS MAKE YOU HAPPY. Lettering without a question mark. And yet at the same time, the age-old question about the essence of happiness pops up. In economic terms, it can be defined relatively clearly. In an era geared towards consumption, in an environment which is about educating our future – all of a sudden the question about what actually makes you happy, about how you would like to shape your life. Is there anything more? And the answer – is also an answer to the question: what is the purpose of art?
Schappert’s works on canvas and paper are a marked contrast to the murals. Sketched portraits with a schematic appearance combined with the key statements of the exhibition. The central work, which gives its title to the exhibition, should be singled out here: TRAVEL FIBER. A ship, clouds that aren’t actually clouds, waves that aren’t actually waves – a ship, sailing freely on the open sea, that isn’t really the sea. Fever, something we all feel and yet it is ‘Fiber’ – a virtual interpretation. The artist leads us onto his pilotless vessel on an open sea, which only exists in virtual space and thus takes us back to where we started. To the economy, information, facts and figures. What remains: a voyage, information, figures and facts and an artwork, which offers a clearly structured projection surface. The viewer can enrich and embellish it with his own experiences and future expectations.
We may have arrived at the place where we started out, but we have gathered some ground on the way. Reality remains in place or has caught up with us, but what we make of it is our own affair. We began talking about art and commerce, about the purpose ascribed to art over and above a purely economic aspect. We spoke about a love that is unloved. A love that – through Roland Schappert – has found its ultimate manifestation in what might also be thought of as an unloved place. But LOVE IS NOT THE END. And what remains is the open sea and a ship without a pilot.
Roland Schappert, Künstlerkatalog: REISEFIBER,
Klappbroschur mit 32 Seiten, 26 Farbabbildungen, Text deutsch/engl.
Hrsg: Gerhard Theewen, Salon Verlag, Köln 2013
ISBN 978-3-89770-438-1
