Fulterer & Scherrer at Galerie Sophia Vonier
Fulterer & Scherrer’s exhibition “Studs” revels within the a number of meanings of its title, electrifying the gallery with an erotic cost that by no means takes itself significantly. Whereas more and more sophisticated in composition, the three collection on show—“Studs #1,” 2019–20, “Studs #2,” 2021, and “Studs #3,” 2022—all share an analogous construction. To start out, artists Gabriele Fulterer and Christine Scherrer (a duo since 2007) have utilized a blocked-out palette of black and DayGlo to reveal wood frames. Spanning the void of the pictorial house are scraps of sentimental, silver-studded pleather stretched taut, à la H&M does S&M. The ensuing materials tensions are light however persistent sufficient to depart a mark, like a hair tie left too lengthy on a wrist. They beg to be tugged. Whereas mounted solidly with rivets, like furnishings upholstery, lots of the types—most pointedly in “Studs #3”—recommend lingerie. Singled out or organized in mutable rows, the rotatable works sing of the oft-invisible torments and titillations of our modern-day apparel: the rise of a thong alongside thick haunches, a bra strap burrowing into shoulder flesh, the determined sag of a halter prime ill-equipped for its burdens.
Formally, the colours pop and champagne with a Memphis fervor, however on the similar time, the works lack that good plastic coating to seal the composition from its context. The artists as a substitute go away room for variations and imperfections, permitting the wooden’s grain to obviously stand out from beneath the fluorescent yellow hue. The shock of impertinence strikes like a secure phrase stated too quickly, pulling us again from the fantasy. These are, in any case, nonetheless empty frames.
