Mouth open, teeth showing

Does an individual’s personality result from his or her genes? Does individuality ensue from self-aware reflection and the ascertainment of the self based on reason? Or must the body and its gender be considered as the foundation of identity?

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The exhibited works by artists Zoe Leonard (*1961), Sylvie Fleury (*1961), Franz West (*1947) and Paul McCarthy (*1945) question how identities are formed and which norms, rituals and myths lend the appearance of a constant self-image. What all the works - from the room-filling installation to the panel painting - have in common is an approach to a new understanding of identity.
It is remarkable how productive the works of Franz West and Paul McCarthy, whose broad reception only began in the 1990s, appear in the context of those of Zoe Leonard and Sylvie Fleury and how the works of the different generations correspond with each other. Obviously, it is only today, after a period of almost 20 years, that it is possible to approach the significance of a fundamentally new, non-esentialist understanding of the body and identity, on which the works from the Schürmann Collection exhibited here are based.

With the artistic positions of Zoe Leonard, Sylvie Fleury, Franz West and Paul McCarthy, the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen is now showing a complex of works from the Gaby and Wilhelm Schürmann Collection for the third time in the museum's temporary exhibition area.

A brochure with a text by Barbara Engelbach and the two artist's books “Paul McCarthy. Hammer Oranges Apple” (edited by Barbara Engelbach with a text by Paul Mc Carthy) and ”Zoe Leonard. Mouth Open, Teeth Showing II” (edited by Barbara Engelbach with a text by Zoe Leonard). All three publications can be purchased in the museum store.