Barry Flanagan and Ursula Reuter Christiansen: Fable and Form

Presented across the newly renovated von Bartha gallery in Basel, this exhibition features a dialogue between Irish-Welsh artist Barry Flanagan (1941–2009) and German-born Danish artist Ursula Reuter Christiansen (b. 1943). Flanagan, primarily known for his bronze sculptures, displays works ranging from larger-than-life hares to miniature castings of dogs, humans, and elephants. These are juxtaposed with large-scale paintings and drawings by Reuter Christiansen, whose practice spans over sixty years. Together, their works explore the fluid boundaries between the human and the animal, drawing on the tradition of the fable where bodies transform and familiar forms reveal unfamiliar truths. The exhibition highlights a threshold space between the known and the strange, suggesting that these sculpted and painted figures serve as vessels for fear, desire, and themes that cannot be expressed directly.