Cassina Projects is pleased to present Outer Skin. Inner Gaze, Jens Kothe’s (*1985, Bochum, Germany) first solo exhibition at the gallery and in Italy. Conceived as a setting that explores the hybrid concepts of vulnerability and security through the notions of posture and the corporeal, the show brings together a series of new works produced specifically for the occasion.
Curated by Giovanna Manzotti, the project revolves around the dialogue between a body of wall sculptures and an installation consisting of three fences, a curved counter and a series of casts of feet and ceramic hands: a sculptural reinterpretation on some of the security signals, such as the palm facing outwards and other fingers curled around the thumb. Acting in the gallery as modular elements of various scales, the works on view unfold on the basis of a rhythmic and coherent composition, reinforcing the idea of separation, barrier and the inside/outside feeling, and affecting how we relate to the whole exhibition space and the objects in it.
In Outer Skin. Inner Gaze, the movement of body and the eye of the viewer are guided through a meticulous display that toys with the notions of distance, limits and physical proximity, as well as accessibility and concealment – all part of Kothe’s interests. This choreography pervades many of the exhibited sculptures and underlies a tactile and affective structure that emerges with a palpable tension in the interplay of pursuit and complementarity between the ‘vulnerable’ and the ‘safer’ parts. The title of the show seems to adhere perfectly to this horizon, evoking an intimate interstice, an encounter, a scenario that is both as protected and safe as it is controlled, a ‘surveillance area’.
Through the combination of various materials, such as wood, upholstery wadding and fabric which are in turn treated with beeswax, acrylic paint, lampblack pigment, silicone, resin rubber and beeswax, Kothe’s sculptural works refer to themes of physicality, sensuality, seduction, security, materiality, and raise questions about bodily functions, limits of corporeality, protection, memory and fragments. The disruption of binary logics such as epidermal/visceral, primordial/plastic, hardness/softness, organic/industrial and the reinterpretation of forms of objecthood are also pivotal motifs in the artist’s research.
Finally, Outer Skin. Inner Gaze extends the artist’s ongoing investigation into the viewer’s one-to-one haptic stimulation, creating an atmosphere where everyday objects, bodies and surfaces resonate with intimacy nooks and privacy.
The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by Giovanna Manzotti. This text, conceived and written in the form of instructions, is also be available in audio format.
Pause in front of one of the fences and get closer to the net, peering at that curved white counter, balanced on thin steel legs. Doesn’t it look like a walkway? Or a dissection table? It ‘weeps’ at the edges. It’s the solidified drops of epoxy resin that give it this effect. Some foot casts lie on the counter, like fragments or relics, protected relics. Is this what remains of us? Are these feet just an illusion or the real physical translation of a movement? A measure of a mere emotional distance between body parts?
Breathe.
Now take another look at the feet on the counter, and slowly get out of what is supposed to be a danger zone.
Breathe again, slowly.
Look around and take your bearings. A number of sculptures in upholstery wadding hang on the wall. As they function so effectively at ideal range, a haptic expectation is perceived. Did you notice them from a distance? Their skin attracts your inner gaze. Call it desire.
