Art that sparks curiosity & contemplation: Andrea Buttner at home with savvy family

A Weingarten Art Group (WAG) collaborator says often that she’d rather “put up bare walls than bad art.” While the latter part of that statement, “bad art,” is surely subjective, what isn’t up to interpretation is the process of matching a work of art with a collector. When the motivations and values of a client align with a painting, sculpture or multi-media installation, what ensues is a personal narrative that cannot be replicated.

When that happens, we like to quip that said wall has been WAG-ed — it has our stamp of approval. And that’s how this blog series, WAG Your Wall, earned its moniker.

We recently installed a work by Andrea Buttner in a Memorial collection.

Work: Untitled (Römischer Brunnen), 2012, reverse glass painting with collage, 19 x 14.2 x .1 inches.

Client criteria:  While selectively adding works to an already impressive collection, our client hoped to harmonize this new acquisition with existing decor and artworks, as well as invest in a work with value potential.

Our recommendation: As a firm, WAG has been following Andrea Buttner ever since she was profiled at dOCUMENTA in 2012. The exhibition, which is held every five years in Kassel, Germany, is a significant event that features contemporary art — most of the works are site-specific. It’s not a selling exhibition to the likes of the Venice Biennale, Art Basel and Skulptur Projekte Münster, but rather an opportunity to create a pop up museum that lasts for 100 days — no more, no less.

It’s clear that Andrea Buttner’s work has substance, talent, insight and promise. Since that time, she was picked up by one of the best galleries in the United States — the David Kordansky Gallery.

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is currently presenting the first American solo exhibition of this German influential, from Nov. 21, 2015, through April 10, 2016. Of this retrospective, Star Tribune reporter Mary Abbe writes:

Though intellectually loaded, the show is neither heavy lifting nor didactic. Like a wunderkammer, it exists to spark curiosity and contemplation. And Büttner tosses in such visual treats as pink-topped tables because she blushes easily and loves the color. And an aqua woodcut of a man floating skyward. He’s half of a couple kissing in a Chagall painting; the woman is left to our imaginations.

The palette of the work compliments the specific site we wanted to fill and and offers an intriguing and uniquely elegant composition.

Meaningful transformation of space: The work adds variety to the collection in the form of a new medium — painting on glass. Painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper and now painting on glass offer textural and visual interest in the entire home. This savvy family is raising its young children an environment that is rich with both established and emerging art.

What a wonderful way to grow up and carry forward into an adult life!