Good and Bad

All of Thomas Schütte’s sculpture work is figurative, revealing his concern for the human condition. His caricatured, sometimes downtrodden but always touching figures come to life in clay, wax, ceramics, steel, bronze and full-length or head-and-shoulders portraits. The German artist addresses crucial topics such as power, memory, the role of art, beauty, economic greed, death, beauty and melancholy.

More recently, the genre of portraiture has enabled him to address themes like alienation, conflict, isolation and vulnerability, as seen in the sculpture Good and Bad (2009). Two heads, in gold and platinum glazed ceramic, strive to fully explore the expressive potential of physiognomy. Imperfect, they echo the artist’s efforts to “introduce a twisted question mark into the world”.

Good and Bad by Thomas Schütte was first shown by the Pinault Collection at the "Eloge du Doute" (“In Praise of Doubt”) exhibition at the Punta della Dogana (2011-2013).