Galerie Krinzinger is pleased to announce a collaboration with Toni Schmale. opferblech 2 is her first solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger. The artist is showing a selection of existing works as well as works produced for the opferblech exhibition atbasis e.V. Frankfurt, curated by Carlotta Döhn which will be reconstructed and added upon.”
The exhibition title opferblech 2 relates to a metal sheet employed in the steel industry to eliminate unwelcome pressure marks and distortions that can occur during the bending or moulding process of a steel object. As it is placed between the press and the object, all the knocks and bumps, quirks and edges, in other words all the related damage that occurs during the moulding process, are inscribed in the sheet. As such, it is “sacrificed” and bears witness to the functional transition from material to industrial product. The sacrificial sheet serves as a prerequisite for the production of a supposedly perfect form. It is the counterpart to the industrial standardized object.
Schmales’ large-format steel sculptures can be read as aesthetic forms as well as reflective elements that confront the viewer with their own corporeality. They show a shift and complication of representative logics of physicality and sexuality, thus stimulating body-political discourses.
Text by Carlotta Döhn, quoted from the exhibition publication opferblech, basis e.V., Frankfurt, 2024
