Max Leiß, Portfolio
Max Leiß, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel 2016
installation view
“It is consistent, therefore, that Max Leiß also scrutinises the specific particularities of a given exhibition space. For his exhibition at the Kunsthaus
Baselland the artist has cast a line of chamotte clay in situ, a line that draws
a nearly 40-metre-long diagonal over the three connecting gallery spaces, a
line that links them and makes them legible as one whole. (...)” Ines Goldbach
Max Leiß, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel 2016
installation view
Ratonneau
2015 / framed analogue print on baryta paper / 106 x 79 cm
CARAVAN 3/2014: Max Leiß, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau 2014
25e / 2014 / wood, cord / 120 x 80 x 50 cm
“Max Leiß generates his sculptural
vocabulary part­ly from found materials, partly from materials he creates
himself. The reduced, abstract formal
language evolves from an open­ended
and exper­imental approach. In sometimes fragmentary form, older works
find their way into his installa­tions,
creating new combinations and linking
the past to the present and the feasible. These processes of transformation
are an important component of the
artist’s work: the potential of growth,
traces of unpredictable changes and
tem­poral sequences.” Katrin Weilenmann
CARAVAN 3/2014: Max Leiß, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau 2014
installation views
Der große Abplatter, Nicolas Krupp Contemporary Art, Basel 2014
waitress / 2014 / steel, lacquer / 95 x 50 x 50 cm
“With the artist from Basel the
world is practically reduced to
nothingness. But not without irony.
Major irony. The world reduced to
its almost nothingness is based on
abstractions collated from found
materials or created as figures that
are in a most simple way sensory.”
Jean-Paul Gavard-Perret
Der große Abplatter, Nicolas Krupp Contemporary Art, Basel 2014
doubled dimensions / 2014 / schamotte cast
Der große Abplatter, Nicolas Krupp Contemporary Art, Basel 2014
Le Studio Imaginaire (Frioul) / 2013 / framed analogue print / 32 x 25 cm
“As an artist of disturbance, Leiß
questions the issue of representation. He always shows the emptiness that the fullness implies in
experiences made of polyphonies of
scattered and disjointed elements.
(...)” Jean-Paul Gavard-Perret
Strömungsabriss, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel 2013
Connecticut Pieces / 2013 / steel, paint
ohne Titel (Stütze) / 2011 / wood, wall paint, styrofoam / 50 x 50 x 25 cm
Bruchstück / 2013 / cement, rubble, wire / 55 x 15 x 5 cm
Richard Gott allowing the universe to become its own mother (Guss 7)
2013 / bronze / 30 x 15 x 5 cm
Swiss Art Awards, Basel 2013
installation view
“Increasingly, photographs of objects and architec­tural
settings appear in Leiß’s installations. Yet the artist is less
interested in planned or staged work as in constellations that
seem to come about in passing, that have grown over time
and as a result of various functional require­ments, be it in
interior or outdoor spaces.” Katrin Weilenmann
Swiss Art Awards, Basel 2013
Le Studio Imaginaire (Lysbüchel) / 2013 / b&w analogue print
“...so the objects displayed here
are neither identical to themselves
nor substantial atoms. Differentation
is also a modulation, therefore while
differing these things are however
absolutely together, enchained in a
metonymic havoc that never stops
withdrawing...” Alessandro Sarri
Aus dem Leben der Wildkatzen, Enrico Fornello, Milano 2012
installation view
Diplomausstellung, AdBK Karlsruhe 2011
das geht jetzt aber zu weit / 2011 / plaster, wire, wax / 50 x 40 x 4 cm
ohne Titel ( Atelier) / 2011 / wood, paint, concrete, steel / 250 x 210 x 100 cm
“Max Leiß creates objects that are based on a transfer
of form and space: The artist generates a formal language
of various media, in part from found and modified objects,
and develops his work from these while juxtaposing them.
The creation of shape becomes a process, while the visibility of traces and the reference to an “aesthetic relic”
functions as a part of this process. “ Christina Irrgang
Passage, Meyer Riegger Karlsruhe 2010
Raum aus Seite 13 / 2010 / schamotte cast / 180 x 150 x 20 cm
ohne Titel (Spielraumgestell ) / 2010 / steel, paint, rubber gum / 220 x 120 x 80 cm
Kentaur, eine Wolke betrachtend / 2010 / aluminium, lacquer / 75 x 62 x 4 cm
ohne Titel (dort verbrachten sie den ganzen Tag)
2009 / wood, steel, glass, cardboard / 220 x 90 x 70 cm
“Ausgabe# is released since June 2011 as a
personal magazine by Max Leiß. Each of the issues includes various graphical elements like
prints, photographs, copies or text fragments,
which document the artists work process. These
elements build up an increasing inventory of
forms that can be used as a vocabulary for the
following issues. Thereby Ausgabe# becomes
a visual memory and field of experimentation,
which aim is to order, connect and recombine
ideas and thoughts.” Thomas Geiger
Ausgabe#19 / 2014
edition of 19 copies, various sheets in envelope, each 36 x 25 cm
Ausgabe#21 / 2014 / laser print, 28 pages and some loose sheets, 21,5 x 15 cm
5 prints published with I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel, Tokyo Edition
Ausgabe#22 / 2014
Ausgabe#12 / 2012
Mark Pezinger Verlag, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen 2012
exhibition furniture by Max Leiß, presentation of Ausgabe# among other artist books
Max Leiß
Solo Exhibitions
2016 2015
2014
2013
2012
Max Leiß, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel CH
double-crossed displays, Städt. Galerie Kirchheim DE (with A. Orasch)
CARAVAN 3/2014: Max Leiß, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau CH
Connecticut, V8 Plattform, Karlsruhe DE
Strömungsabriss, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel CH (with R. Lutter)
Aus dem Leben der Wildkatzen, Enrico Fornello, Mailand IT
Group Exhibitions
2015 shortlist Kahnweilerpreis, Rockenhausen DE
show me your guts, Stellwerk, Basel CH (with A. Janev)
glasgrün, Mischpoke e.V., Mönchengladbach DE
Going Places, Atelier Mondial, Basel CH
Parallelaktion, Güterbahnhof Wolf, Basel CH
LÖ-GE 555, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel CH (with Mark Pezinger)
2014
Flumen, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse FR
Approaching Architecture, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz CH
Der große Abplatter, Nicolas Krupp, Basel CH
9 to 5, Wiels Centre d‘Art Contemporain Project Space, Brussels BEL
I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel at Tokyo Art Book Fair, Tokyo JP
Mark Pezinger Works Both Ways, FRAC Marseille FR
7 Rooms, Kunst Raum Riehen CH
2013 Give Me Shelter, curated by Annette Amberg, GGG studios Basel CH
Swiss Art Awards, Messe Basel CH
I want to become Tarzan before sunset, Pioneer Works, New York US
Awards | Residencies
2015
2014 2013
2012
2011
2010
Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt, Werkbeitrag
artist in residence, Atelier Mondial, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris
Graduiertenförderung des Landes Baden-Württemberg
Atelierstipendium der GGG, Basel 2012
Preis der Jahresausstellung, AdBK Karlsruhe
Preis der Jahresausstellung, AdBK Karlsruhe
Publications | Catalogues
2016
2014
2013
2012
2010
Zeichensatz, Kunsthaus Baselland ISBN 978-3-9524292-6-6
CARAVAN 3/2014, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel, Tokyo Edition
GRAPHIC #30, p.134
all-over, Magazin für Kunst und Ästhetik, #5 Oktober
Give Me Shelter, curated by Annette Amberg, GGG Basel
About Mark Pezinger, Mark Pezinger Verlag
Aus dem Leben der Wildkatzen, Enrico Fornello, Milano
TOP 12 Meisterschüler der Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe
Deltabeben Regionale, Stadtgalerie Mannheim
Der unaufhaltsame Aufstieg von Draufgängern und Flaschen,
Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe
2012
Regionale 13, Kunst Raum Riehen CH
Von den Rändern her, Kunsthalle Palazzo Liestal CH
TOP 12 Meisterschüler, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe DE
Die Taschen voll Sand, Jocelyn Wolff showcase, Paris FR
Deltabeben, Stadtgalerie Mannheim DE
Reading disorders thinking out loud, Kunstverein Kassel DE
17 x 8, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe DE
Mark Pezinger Verlag, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen CH
2011
Diplomausstellung, AdBK Karlsruhe DE
Regionale 12, Kunst Raum Riehen CH
2010 Passage, Meyer Riegger Karlsruhe DE
Der unaufhaltsame Aufstieg von Draufgängern und Flaschen,
curated by Meuser, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe DE
Drancy/Bobigny: art, ville et mémoire, curated by Vincent Barré, Le Centquatre, Paris FR
2009
Regionale 10, Kunsthalle Basel CH
Regionale 10, Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg DE
Max Leiß,
born 1982 in Bonn, Germany, lives in Basel
Education:
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, 2006 - 2012
Master Class of Prof. Harald Klingelhöller 2012
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts Paris, 2010
maxleiss.de