Thomas Eggerer and Jochen Klein initially started their collaboration by co-authoring texts for the catalog of Die Utopie des Designs, a show at the Kunstverein Munich, Germany, curated by Helmut Draxler in 1994. They continued writing together, resulting in the essay “The English Garden in Munich.” This text would provide a context for a collaborational artwork that was executed around the same time: In the spring of 1994, Thomas Eggerer and Jochen Klein placed a message board on the outside wall of a public toilet, in proximity to the English Garden. The work Leave a message—respectively the documentation of the installation—was part of the show Oh Boy, It’s A Girl (19 July – 11 September 1994) at the Kunstverein Munich curated by Astrid Wege and Hedwig Saxenhuber. The message board was conceived as a communication tool between gay men to get in touch with each other in a public space. This publication marks the first time that the essay “The English Garden in Munich” is published.
Edition of 500.
Authors: Thomas Eggerer and Jochen Klein
Publisher: Galerie Buchholz / saxpublishers, 2017
Language: English
Brochure with foil embossed cover: 24 pages
10.5×15.5 cm
ISBN 978-3-200-05212-3
About the artist
Thomas Eggerer (b. 1963 Munich, West Germany) was trained as a painter at the Art Academy in Munich. After moving to New York in 1994, he became part of the legendary art collective Group Material. His practice now focuses on painting, drawing, and collage, and his works often portray figures in an abstract, surreal landscape. He is a regular faculty member at the MFA program at Bard College.
Solo exhibitions of his work have taken place at 15 Orient, Brooklyn; Maureen Paley, London; Galerie Bucholz, Cologne; Richard Telles, Los Angeles; Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany; and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.
In 2015, Eggerer participated in La Biennale de Lyon. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at David Zwirner, New York; Queer Thoughts, New York; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Brandhorst Museum, Munich; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; White Columns, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Vancouver Art Gallery; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; and the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt among others.
His work is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Sammlung Boros, Berlin; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; and the Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany.