Galerie Krinzinger is pleased to announce a collaboration with Toni Schmale. opferblech 2 is her first solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger. The artist is showing a selection of existing works as well as works produced for the opferblech exhibition at basis Frankfurt, which will be reconstructed and added upon.

The exhibition title opferblech 2 relates to a metal sheet employed in the steel industry to eliminate unwelcome pressure marks and distortions that can occur during the bending or moulding process of a steel object. As it is placed between the press and the object, all the knocks and bumps, quirks and edges, in other words all the related damage that occurs during the moulding process, are inscribed in the sheet. As such, it is “sacrificed” and bears witness to the functional transition from material to industrial product. The sacrificial sheet serves as a prerequisite for the production of a supposedly perfect form. It is the counterpart to the industrial standardized object.

Schmales' large-format steel sculptures can be read as aesthetic forms as well as reflective elements that confront the viewer with their own corporeality. They show a shift and complication of representative logics of physicality and sexuality, thus stimulating body-political discourses.

In the three-meter-high sculpture schlauch #6, this reflexive level of perception is bound to activate. hose #6 shows that every material, no matter how hard, has a melting point, possesses an inherent fragility and can take on forms that almost appear soft. By paraphrasing material properties, Schmale's work exposes the gendered associations that are inscribed in materials and encourages us to reflect on the perception and categorization of our environment that is influenced by them.

Industrially manufactured materials are forced to exit their form and are transformed into objects. For the duration of the exhibition, universal elements of relation materialize in the connection between the sculptures and the space: time, space and body.

Sexuality and gender are permeated by notions of power and conventions, which are produced linguistically and symbolically. In Schmale's sculptures, attributions of activity and passivity are questioned and routes towards disempowerment and empowerment are explored.

haube, whose title refers to a hat of sorts, is Toni Schmale's most recent work. Within the exhibition space, it offers a protective canopy and establishes a physical relationship with the visitors in the room. sucker #5 also quotes an everyday object, but in the form of a critical examination of the values of meritocracy, which demands tiring productivity from its individuals while promising a prosperity that never materializes.

(Text by Carlotta Döhn, quoted from the exhibition publication opferblech, basis e.V., Frankfurt, 2024)