In Winter

Flowers and art at Brutto Gusto gallery in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Photo def image, Holger Niehaus.

There are countless occasions for flowers. They fulfill a recurring need for beauty, bring enchantment to indoor spaces, lift our spirits, spread joy or comfort. A floral bouquet is often a must when visiting friends. Now, during the pre-Christmas season, it is not uncommon for a candle and a fir branch to add a gleam to the darkness or light the way to a contemplative mood. The selection of flowers at Brutto Gusto enjoys ample space atop a large table, where the exquisite blossoms often evoke exclamations of rapt amazement from even the most discerning connoisseurs.

Willem Speekenbrink, wall object, 2011, bronze 28 × 16 cm. Photo def Image. On view in the exhibition In Winter at Brutto Gusto, Berlin.

The invigorating and colorful splendor of flowers is not the only theme at Wielandstrasse 34 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. While the trained florist Takayuki Tomito looks after the flora and their admirers with quintessentially Japanese self-effacement and subtlety, Geer Pouls is passionate about another subject. As he had done at the former location on Torstrasse, Pouls organizes several exhibitions each year with international greats of glass art, ceramic art, or simply art.

Guido Sengle, Vase 2018, porcelain, 22 × 19 cm. Photo def Image.

“In Winter” is the name this Dutch-born artist chose for the 2022 Christmas exhibition, which presents a trio of artists who could scarcely be more dissimilar from one another. Ritsue Mishima discovered her passion for glass in Venice approximately 30 years ago, when she was a stylist searching for appropriate vases. She has since become an international star whose glass objects are found in important public collections such as the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam or the Musée d’Arts Décoratifs in Paris. She won the Giorgio Armani Prize in 2001.

Awarded the Fondazione di Venezia Award 2022 for the best solo exhibition during Italian Glass Weeks 2022: Ritsue Mishima, glass object Icefinger, 2021, 44  × 27 cm. Photo Francesco Barasciutti.

While Ritsue Mishima’s glass sculptures are complex, organic and expressive, the ceramics of Guido Sengle from Kassel radiate an aura of dignified calm. Nevertheless, they reveal themselves to be full of life when one immerses oneself in the depth of the glaze and the structure of the craquelé. The third exhibitor in this Christmas show is the Dutch artist Willem Speekenbrink, who says, “Nothing is as it seems” – and that is a very timely theme indeed.