José Montealegre: Drastic Measures

José Montealegre's second solo exhibition at Galerie Thomas Schulte, Drastic Measures, shows sculptures and works on paper that bear traces and hints of violence through their different materials and working processes. The works reflect historical instruments of power and authority and intervene in these structures by simulating and reproducing their means in order to destabilize them.

The repetition and transfer of images, forms and materials refers to the seductive power of art and at the same time to strategies and narratives of war and conquest. In allusions to weapons, armor, demonstrations of power or their surrounding structures, the role of art in the construction of spaces is questioned - it can offer protection, be a refuge, but at the same time act in complicity and help shape the formation of unfolding power structures. This creates a field of tension that is on the verge of decay and at the same time is constantly being created anew.