Georg Baselitz: Sculptures 2011-2015

Selected with Georg Baselitz and taken directly from his studio, Georg Baselitz: Sculptures 2011-2015 features never-before-seen towering sculptures alongside loose, inky drawings. Inviting you to enter a forest of raw, timber sculptures, this exhibition provides new insights into the artist’s process, and how his works inform one another across different mediums.

The sculptures in this exhibition were not originally intended for public view. They were made as maquettes, or models, in preparation for bronze works. Each wooden sculpture is made from a single tree trunk, which Baselitz carved down using power saws, axes and chisels. His solid, impactful figures retain the texture of timber, with distinctive incisions and notches across their surfaces. Exhibited at Serpentine South, which is surrounded by the trees of Kensington Gardens, these timber sculptures recall their original living forms in the forests of Saxony.

The drawings which are also on view are not preparatory sketches for the wooden maquettes, but were instead made during the sculpting process. By bringing these drawings and sculptures together, the exhibition highlights the links between Baselitz’s two- and three-dimensional processes. This is a vivid exploration of the possibilities – and impossibilities – of translating between painting, drawing and sculpture.