From September 12-15, 2024, the 11th edition of the POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair took place at the historic Berlin-Tempelhof Airport. In this impressive setting, 111 international galleries from 24 countries presented their most important pieces of contemporary and modern art. The airport’s spacious hangars, with their 16-meter-high ceilings and light-flooded halls, offered a unique atmosphere over 12,000 square meters. This year, I once again set out to explore art with a minimalist aesthetic and would like to share my highlights with you.
One of the first booths that immediately caught my eye was from Galerie Ulf Larsson. Larsson presented a beautiful selection of works by the painter Maria Wallenstål-Schoenberg and the German sculptor René Dantes. Dantes, born in 1962, is known for his abstract sculptures, which feature a harmonious blend of organic and geometric forms. His reduced sculptures made of patinated stainless steel harmonized perfectly with the abstract paintings of Munich-based artist Maria Wallenstål-Schoenberg.
The color scheme of her works varies between strong tones such as black, neutral tones such as beige and bright colors such as orange or blue. The works of both artists entered into a vibrant dialogue with each other, creating an impressive aesthetic synergy at the booth of Galerie Ulf Larsson.
Galerie Tassilo Usner presented a beautiful selection of works by Moritz Berg and Peter Zunder. Moritz Berg’s artistic practice revolves around the exploration of perception and the aesthetic impact of nature-influenced environments. Starting from ordinary, fleeting moments, his work develops a visual language that captures the rapid pace of daily life while highlighting hidden qualities in seemingly trivial details.
Austrian artist Peter Zunder was represented with a large-scale work from his “Streaks” series (see image below, right artwork). In this series, the artist, born in 1987, is mainly concerned with creating a reduced, abstract space that offers the viewer a contemplative, calming and inspiring experience. The preparation of the colors is an essential part of the artistic process, in which various pigments are matured over a long period of time to achieve the desired transparency and opacity.
Galleri Weinberger Schandorff presented a beautiful selection of minimalist art by the Slovenian artist Dusa Jesih, the German artists Katrin Bremermann and Birte Horn, and the Danish artist Rasmus Refer.
All the works moved skillfully between painting and sculpture and impressed with their formal and aesthetic reduction. The harmonious curation emphasized the interplay of the works of the different artists and impressively demonstrated how universal minimalist aesthetics can be.
Despite their different origins, the works entered into a coherent dialogue with each other.
This year, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of galleries presenting a nice selection of art with a minimalist aesthetic. Listing all the positions would go beyond the scope of this short review, so I will just limit myself to my personal favorites.
Among the other highlights were definitely the works by artist Tomislav Topic, shown by Berlin gallery artnow. Topic, who is usually known for his abstract, site-specific and colorful installations, presented a minimalist facet of his work with his series “Selbstläufer” and “Devaporized.”
Also worth mentioning are the works of German artist Frank Gerritz, presented by Jörg Jung. Gerritz, a representative of conceptual art, is known for his abstract minimalist sculptures and pencil drawings, in which he has developed a strict and precise geometric language.
And finally, Galerie Biesenbach from Cologne presented a beautiful selection of paintings by Japanese artist Hideaki Yamanobe. Yamanobe’s paintings are characterized by their minimalist color scheme of black, white and countless shades of gray in between.
It was a pleasure to be at the POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair again this year, and I very much hope to see such a wide selection of minimalist art again next year.
