Wolfgang Laib: City of Silence

The first solo exhibition in the UK in over two decades of internationally acclaimed artist Wolfgang Laib will present a new group of installations reprising recurring motifs from the German artist’s poetic and highly symbolic oeuvre. Beeswax sculptures in the shape of houses, towers and ziggurats reminiscent of Mesopotamian religious step pyramids and Christian reliquary shrines will occupy the floors of the gallery, while brass boats will run along the walls, connecting the space and guiding visitors through the exhibition he has named City of Silence. Alongside them, a series of works on paper created in response to the sculptures will provide a more intimate insight into the artist’s meditative and conceptual approach.

Laib employs simple, organic materials in his work that are often linked to sustenance, such as pollen, milk, beeswax and rice. Each component is imbued with aesthetic power but also carries a wealth of associations connecting past and present, ephemeral and eternal.