CARL-HENNING PEDERSEN & HERBERT MEHLER

The exhibition Herbert Mehler | Growth – Body – Space is expanded to include his works on paper as well as paintings by the CoBrA artist Carl-Henning Pedersen. While Herbert Mehler’s sculptures radiate a material weight, stability, and uniformity through their precisely welded lamellae, Carl-Henning Pedersen’s work is dominated by lightness and airiness. This is achieved through his almost wildly floating motifs, such as birds and boats, and the use of color that is sometimes applied only in patches. The depicted objects appear to be freed from any color or form and blur with the various planes on the canvas. Mehler’s COR-TEN steel sculptures, on the other hand, have clear, symmetrical contours. Both artists exude energy in different ways: in Mehler’s sculptures, it is the powerful, voluminous physicality and the columnar striving upwards; in Pedersen’s paintings, it is the wide spectrum of vibrant, luminous colors that creates an energetic effect.