Description

This comprehensive publication is Kai Althoff's third monograph. It contains never-before-seen works in addition to images from every stage of the artist's career, concentrating most heavily on work since 2002. The artist considers this to be a more ideally composed retrospective than any exhibition of his work would be capable of achieving. The selection of images focuses on documenting the work in a way that addresses the character of the works as well as the artist's current and past perspectives on his oeuvre. Possessing the emotional charge of the artist's works, this book presents personal, previously unpublished photographs, paintings, and writings of "failed satire" with a deceptive sentimentality that oscillates between nostalgia and self-deprecation. This stands in contrast with the innate beauty and craftsmanship of the works, which engrossed the artist at the time of their conception. Souffleuse der Isolation is also concerned with re-evaluating past works and the emotional states in which they were spawned, and how this pertains to the act of revisiting past portrayals of oneself. This volume also features a text by the writer Angus Cook imaginatively inspired by Althoff's work, written specifically for this monograph, which served as a vital conceptual basis to its composition. Also included is a text by Dr. Patrik Scherrer on the use of textiles in the artist's work. Published in collaboration with Kunsthalle Zürich.