Toni Schmale, Zwinger, 2019
, Sand-blasted steel, burnished, oiled; steel, burnished, waxed, 80 x 200 x 65 cm
Kollitsch Collection

Precision and craftsmanship are the defining factors in the oeuvre of this artist, who has chosen steel as the base of her sculptures. She rolls, bends, and moulds the material herself and applies various steel-working techniques for colouring and shaping its surface. Zwinger (2019) brings to mind the remnants of a cage, whose emptiness gives rise to associations of power and liberation, bondage and redemption – an imagery also reflected in the treatment of the actual material, which the artists bends to her will. Social power structures and gender stereotypes are central topics in this artist’s oeuvre. In her massive steel sculptures, she also emancipates herself from her unwieldy material by means of an ingenious system of interlocking parts, thus illustrating her physical independence.

Toni Schmale, Fisting, 2020
, Concrete, steel, 25 x 9 x 8 cm
Kollitsch Collection

In her art, Toni Schmale questions societal structures and stereotypical gender roles. The artist – previously a professional footballer in the German national squad – prefers to work with concrete and steel, materials that traditionally have a masculine connotation. Power relations and control are recurring themes, as are sexuality and fetishism. The symbolism behind the clenched concrete fist triggers off associations of strength, resistance, threat, and self-defence, and reaches yet another level of interpretation through the title of the piece, Fisting.