Germany Today!

The art world loves to categorize artists by their style or "school," particularly if the artists all hail from the same part of the world in the same era. But that's simplistic at best; art is an individual endeavor, and no two people go about creating in the same way. Contemporary German Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection, the new exhibition at the Mildred Kemper Lane Art Museum on Washington University's campus (1 Brookings Drive; 314-935-4523 or www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu), proves this point. The show features sixteen large-scale pieces created in the past twelve years by artists living in Germany; but Germany is not the subject of the art. Instead, each artist follows their own inspiration to create personal works in painting (Michel Majerus and Franz Ackermann), textiles (Cosima von Bonin and Sergej Jensen) and photography (Wolfgang Tillmans and Andreas Gursky). Contemporary German Art opens with a free public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 3. The work remains on display through Saturday, September 7, and the gallery is open every day except Tuesday. NOTE: The Kemper will be closed August 5 through 20.
Mondays, Wednesdays-Sundays; Mondays, Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: May 3. Continues through Sept. 7, 2013