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Doppler and Melancholy Box 57 – Two works selected as part of a survey exhibition of German Sculpture

Broeg’s two works ‘Doppler’ and ‘Melancholy-Box 57’ form part of his research into sculpture and its role today. Broeg aims to investigate scale and materiality whilst also being concerned with minimalism, the works challenging their own three-dimensionality. The consideration of size, relative positioning, and presence of these individual works are all aspects of both their conception and presentation. Material is carefully selected but is also carefully hidden and confused by the application of paint. A high-end industrial finish is combined and contrasted with the artist’s brush mark. Detail at different levels is essential to the approach evidencing Broeg’s interest in the viewers’ close and repeated examination.

These two pieces were exhibited as part of ‘Die Bildauer - Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1945 to the present’ (Feb – July 2013). The exhibition, a major survey of German sculpture, with Brög’s work forming part of the younger generation of artists informing the new discourses of sculpture today, brings together 52 works and includes artists such as Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Katharina Fritsch, Thomas Schütte, Georg Herold or Rosemarie Trockel. The exhibition was co-curated by academy director Prof. Anthony Cragg, academy gallery chief curator and art historian Prof. Robert Fleck, Dr. Marion Ackerman director of the Kunstsammlung NRW and chief curator Dr. Maria Müller Schareck.

The two works respond to two other significant non-figurative sculptural works held by the Academy: Erwin Heerich, whose work is defined by a vital and dynamic conversation between aspects of sculpture, architecture and geometry; and Norbert Kricke, a key exponent of German post-war art.