Forest Bathing/Biophilia

Stefan Strumbel shows a solo exhibition at the premises of the Gallery Ruttkowski;68 in Paris titled Forest bathing / Biophilia. Strumbel explores romanticism in his very own manner and asks questions about humanity and the love of the living. In casted sculptures, he displays figures covered in bubble wrap, still leaving their physicality and silhouette. The sculptures are thus immortalized in between, in a moment of transport or storage, and the protective material becomes their skin and feel. It symbolizes the protection of everything that you want to carry and preserve, be it values, contents, convictions or feelings. Furthermore, the artist shows a range of new paintings and for example a neon work solely bearing the word: Romance. In warm and soft colors the paintings float above the viewers emotions, displaying memories and atmospheres and thereby performing different degrees of abstraction. Whether it is the love of nature, the heart as a forest, the love of things, the urge to protect or hold onto them: Strumbel's work can be read as a poetic love story, which explores the possibilities within contemporary sculpture, the fetish of objects and the possibilities of painting. He puts the viewers emotions in relation to the real world and thereby postulates the freedom of creation.