German Pop Artist Asks, "What the F**k is Home?"

German artist Stefan Strumbel flips the script with bronze- and aluminum-cast sculptures of fast food, inflatable forest islands, and life-sized beds.

by Rebecca Miller

November 13, 2015, 9:15pm

Images courtesy Tom Ziora, Städtische Galerie Offenburg

"Home" is where we are loved—in theory. It's that Venn diagram sweet spot, the intersection between our environment and our most pleasant states of mind. Not always the most fiery or passion-filled of places, but comfortable, safe, and warm. At least, that's what we've been programmed to think.

German artist Stefan Strumbel has been tackling the notion of "Heimat" (which can be roughly translated to mean "home") head-on in his body of work for years. Previously and classically known for his colorful, modernized cuckoo clocks and vibrant prints, his latest eponymic exhibit at the Städtische Galerie Offenburg in Germany showcases a whole new artistic direction.

The new, grungier bronze- and aluminum-cast sculptures of fast food, inflatable forest islands, and life-sized beds, offset by thought-provoking phrases such as "WTF is Heimat?", "Love 24 hrs," and "Nowhere," surprise and delight his fans who are used to seeing his more playful and provocative pop culture pieces.

Strumbel himself has many different homes. While he feels equally at home in Offenburg, Berlin, and New York, it only seems fitting that he chose his hometown of Offenburg for this major showing. Through this installation, along with a newly published collection of his work, Strumbel has developed his leitmotif into a broader question about belonging and identity. He feels these themes are things everyone can relate to, embrace, and connect with, which is why he is displaying his work in such an open, public space. By taking a fresh artistic direction, incorporating the gritty, the bold, and the metallic, Strumbel may just have made himself a new "home" in the art world.