From 14 October 2023 to 3 March 2024, the Drents Museum presents the exhibition Tilo Baumgärtel – Das selbe Wasser. This solo exhibition by German artist Baumgärtel (b. 1972) focuses on a combination of paintings, drawings and video art. In Das selbe Wasser, the Drents Museum takes visitors into Baumgärtel’s fairytale world.
Fairytale scenes
Baumgärtel’s work is characterised by fairytale scenes. The artist creates extraordinary worlds through expectant figures and alienating backgrounds in colourful compositions. Baumgärtel gets his inspiration from dreams and random thoughts. For example, he produces works with a grim atmosphere, painted in the calm before the storm.
Visual work and video art
Tilo Baumgärtel studied at the famous Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. Initially interested mainly in photography and film, he later switched to painting. At the time, Baumgärtel studied with painter Arno Rink and shared a studio space with Neo Rauch. Baumgärtel’s interest in film never left him. He continues to make films to this day. So in the exhibition Das selbe Wasser, visitors will see a combination of visual work and video art.
Neue Leipziger Schule
The exhibition Tilo Baumgärtel – Das selbe Wasser is part of a series of solo exhibitions from the Neue Leipziger Schule (New Leipzig School). Rosa Loy, David Schnell, Matthias Weischer, Kristina Schuldt and Neo Rauch, among others, have preceded Baumgärtel. For its collection of contemporary figurative art, the Drents Museum – alongside Academy Minerva in Groningen – has been following the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig for years. This has led, among other things, to two acquisitions of Tilo Baumgärtel’s work, Senzo (2005) and Mafant (2020). Both works can also be seen in the exhibition Das selbe Wasser.
The exhibition has been curated by guest curator Saša Bogojev. The Croatian curator has lived and worked in the Netherlands for several years and has contributed to many exhibitions on contemporary figurative painting worldwide.