Thomas Schütte

Schütte’s work is often humorous or ironic, but it also has a melancholy aspect. He once said that the concept of improving the world remains interesting to him. This statement clarifies something about himself but also about the dilemma that faces almost every artist of his generation. The function that art once had, to adorn public space or memorialize, has become less and less self-evident. A number of smaller works by Schütte bear the common title United Enemies. Each of these works consists of two little men, tied together and placed under a bell jar for display. The faces resemble the character studies of Daumier: ruthless, yet imbued with a love of the human species. In their grotesque features, one can easily read anger, shrewdness and mutual distrust – and the types of concern that these wicked figures may well force upon each other. But one never knows with Schütte. They might as well be friends, united in word, but just as divided by their own plans and ambitions.