Viel Spass: Six German Artists at Espace Paul Ricard

The exhibition 'Viel Spass' at Espace Paul Ricard in Paris, curated by gallerist Daniel Templon, featured six German artists—five painters and one sculptor—who have recently emerged on the international scene. Andreas Slominski presented wooden trap sculptures designed to capture animals. Michel Majerus contributed wall paintings reminiscent of 1990s skate-park aesthetics. Frank Nitsche's abstractions hinted at skull-like vanitas motifs. Anton Henning, the best-known of the group, created lounge environments with design furniture, minimalist illuminated parallelepipeds, plush carpeting, and pastel-colored walls, often incorporating paintings that double the space or depict female body fragments in grisaille. His abstract works feature relief-like, sugary swirls in pale pink, green, and blue. Jonathan Meese's paintings are part of a larger fiction involving performances and installations, centered on the mysterious concepts 'Saal' and 'Balthys,' executed with ironic self-portraits and impasto technique. Ulrich Lamsfuss's hyperrealist paintings, upon closer inspection, reveal oil applied in linear strokes that blend, resembling Philip Guston; his subjects include a terrified deer, laughing women with opulent chests, and anorexic models in eccentric attire. A catalog with texts by Daniel Templon and Charlotte Laubard accompanied the exhibition.