Rosemarie Trockel x Parley
Internationally acclaimed artist Rosemarie Trockel launches a series of surfboards to support Parley
Rosemarie Trockel, “Albatros”, 2019. 6'0'' x 20 1⁄2’’ x 2 1⁄2’’, Fiberglass print on laminated Paulownia wood. Edition 20 + 8 AP
In a collaboration with Parley, contemporary conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel has created 20 limited-edition surfboards titled Albatros, based on one of the most celebrated poems by Charles Baudelaire.
Uniting the worlds of art and surfing, each surfboard is a messenger for the cause and an invitation to join it, a symbol of eco-innovation, creativity and collaboration to protect our life-giving ecosystem. The project is a synthesis of a surfer’s love for the ocean and an artist’s imaginative call for change.
All proceeds of the sales support the Parley Global Cleanup Network — an alliance to end marine plastic pollution by intercepting plastic waste from beaches, islands, and in remote coastal communities, while driving long-term solutions through local education, awareness campaigns and government engagement.
The title of the work Albatros was inspired by a poem in the second edition volume of Les Fleurs du Mal, in which Baudelaire recounts the grace of the "king of the sky" in flight and its misfortunes on land, alluding to the artist and poet in their creative worlds contrasted to the mundanity of daily life. Albatrosses glide above the waves as do surfers, imbued with the forces of the oceans. Indeed, albatross, surfer and poet are "winged voyagers”, their spirits colliding in this artwork.
Rosemarie Trockel is widely regarded as one of the most influential and important conceptual artists in Germany. Her sculptures, collages, ceramics, knitted works, drawings and photographs are noted for their subtle social critique and range of subversive, aesthetic strategies — including the reinterpretation of “feminine” techniques, the ironic shifting of cultural codes, a delight in paradox, and a refusal to conform to the commercial and institutional ideologies of the art system.
Photography by Tom Wagner — Model Grace Risch — Art Directed by Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel was born 1952 in Schwerte, Germany. Her first exhibitions took place at the galleries Monika Sprüth Cologne and Philomene Magers Bonn, both in 1983. Since then, she has been one of the most versatile and pioneering female artists in contemporary art. Her collages, knitting pictures, sculptures, installations and film works embark upon investigations into social role-models, gender-specific behavior and cultural codes that she combines with discourses from philosophy, theology, and the natural sciences. In these works, Trockel investigates both contemporary and historical concerning artistic and social identity. The featured artwork is Less, 1986.
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