Drei Ganz Große Geister

The Geister [Spirits] that have been haunting and at the same time populating Thomas Schütte’s world since 1995 with their uncanniness tinged with a certain warmth or friendliness are especially numerous. Made of wax, then cast in aluminum, bronze, steel, or PVC, or produced in glass, they have appeared over the decades on two scales: in miniature and in monumental propor­tions. Once the frame has been shaped, it is dipped in wax to give it flesh. The drips are deliberately left visible, producing a partly random result that is beyond the artist’s control. To the question of whether these are male figures, he replies “proba­bly.” To the question of whether these spirits are clothed, he explains that he had planned to clothe them but “they took on a life of their own.” They were also to have faces, but Schütte quickly decided to give them their expressiveness by simply making holes with a screwdriver.