Robert Bittenbender, Valerie Keane, Ben Schumacher

Galerie Mazzoli is pleased to invite you to the opening of the group show Robert Bittenbender, Valerie Keane, Ben Schumacher on March 7th at 6 pm.

Do we live in an era of new, constantly growing confusion? In a world where unpredictability is the defining characteristic—where politics and social movements are no longer foreseeable—this world can manifest in various dimensions, appearing as something incomprehensible, chaotic, or even unimaginably complex. It can involve large systems that "somehow" function—such as the stock market—or repeated encounters with phenomena that humans "control" but do not understand, like artificial intelligence. This ongoing uncertainty may only increase with the growing complexity of the world. The exhibition at Galerie Mazzoli explores these themes of excess, decoding, and categorization through selected works by Robert Bittenbender, Valerie Keane and Ben Schumacher.
To begin, it helps to gain an overview: Valerie Keane combines acrylic glass, fiberboard, stainless steel, and aluminum in a fragmented manner to create sculptures that suspend in the space. These collage-like objects engage in dialogue not only with the architecture but also with their environment. Stainless steel and aluminum form highly contemporary structures reminiscent of minimalism, while her carved fiberboard and curving acrylic shapes evoke the organicism of Art Nouveau. The layering of materials, held together by clamps and bindings, creates bodies that, through their tactile quality and lightness, radiate a sense of sublimity. These skeletal forms seem to embody the overwhelming complexity of the world —offering the possibility of overseeing it, like a system that functions even if one never fully understands how.
In contrast, Robert Bittenbender’s work thrives in the chaos of the world. His radical collages emerge on, under, and between layers of oil paint applied to canvas. His pieces scream with the energy overflow and scattered exhaustion of the postmodern age. The world here seems to have already fallen apart and has been crudely reassembled as an attempt at an overview. It consists of the discarded remnants of late capitalism, which Bittenbender rediscovers and repurposes with an extreme sobriety. These physical leftovers become his assemblages—an overwhelming flood of materials that, in their three-dimensionality, appear to morph into nearly absurd sculptures. The artist manipulates his materials: scattered across the surface of the work, they reveal no clear meaning or classification.
Ben Schumacher’s practice also brings order to the disorderly—while simultaneously questioning the status quo of the world. His paintings seem to focus on the in-between spaces of everyday life. His works find their place on canvases, paper, and textiles. We recognize objects and pictures that process millions yet appear as insignificant piles of plastic. Identities are obscured by red paint—passport photos, stamps, postcards, and playing cards. Together with the vibrant colors, they become a great overall chaos that is inevitably and tragically intertwined.

Text by Marlene A. Schenk.