At Art Basel 2019 Tommy Simoens and Daniel Marzona are presenting historical works by Bernd Lohaus.

The work of Lohaus embodies a conceptual and minimalist approach to artmaking made richer and more interesting by signs and prompts of our inner, emotional life. Our presentation „Bernd Lohaus – Giving Voice to Material“ attempts to exhibit an overview of some of the most significant aspects of Bernd Lohaus’ oeuvre exemplified in works throughout his career: immediacy of production, his use of language to deepen the meaning of the work, and how slightly manipulated found materials function as subtle metaphors.

As a former student of Joseph Beuys at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf from 1963 to 1966, Lohaus initiated early happenings with other artists. His own works were mostly made out of very heavy wood but he also used stones, hemp rope and other such materials. His first works were created directly in Beuys’s class, and they were exhibited in the gallery circuit of the Academy at that time. However, within the context of Minimal and Conceptual Art, Lohaus found his own very personal and unique approach to his work which was more open to exploring the poetic and metaphoric dimensions of material and language.