Artist Wolfgang Laib takes one of the most powerful images symbolizing life’s cycle, departure, and return: the ship. In his nineteenth solo exhibition at Buchmann Galerie, that which is beyond the beyond, that to which all things return, Laib presents new granite sculptures created over the past five years in his studio in India.
These elongated sculptures stand directly on the floor, emerging as potent symbols of departure, passage, and the journey of life. The artist has hand-carved the ships from granite and darkened the stone’s surface with oil and soot. The immense weight of the stones enhances the object’s serenity and permanence, entering into dialogue with Lao Tzu’s philosophical words that give the exhibition its title. Laib has returned to Lao Tzu’s writings since his youth, and this philosophy has been a major source of inspiration for his artistic practice.
Western Minimalism and Indian Spirituality
Laib’s art combines his sensitivity to Western minimalist movements with a spirituality drawn from Indian philosophy and aesthetics. The ship motif, previously explored in his works (such as the wax ships from the mid-1990s), gains a new dimension in the density of granite. These new granite ships have primitive, tidy forms reminiscent of traditional dugout canoes. While the sides are roughly hewn, the upper surfaces are smoothly hollowed out into boat-shaped depressions.
The most striking aspect of these works is their relationship with nature. Standing under the banyan trees in the garden of his studio in India, the sculptures were used to collect rainwater. Here, water and granite—liquid and solid—merge, echoing the union in the artist’s Milkstone sculptures where milk and marble combine. This is a holistic aesthetic questioning the inseparable bond between nature, humanity, and time.
Just as in his Zurich retrospective where his works engaged in dialogue with figures like Alberto Giacometti, Robert Ryman, and Piet Mondrian, Laib’s exhibition invites viewers to focus beyond materiality, on the spiritual essence of existence.
Exhibition Details
- Artist: Wolfgang Laib (b. 1950, Germany)
- Exhibition Title: that which is beyond the beyond, that to which all things return
- Venue: Buchmann Galerie, Berlin
- Dates: 31 October 2025 – 17 January 2026
- Theme: Minimalism, Indian Philosophy, Spirituality, and the Journey of Life.
- Note: The exhibition features the artist’s granite ship sculptures created over the past five years in his studio in India.
