Art Review: Rosemarie Trockel - A Cosmos @ Serpentine

Tabish Khan
By Tabish Khan Last edited 133 months ago
Art Review: Rosemarie Trockel - A Cosmos @ Serpentine
Rosemarie Trockel Prime-Age 2012 Digital print 42 x 42 cm Private collection © Rosemarie Trockel, DACS 2013 Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
Rosemarie Trockel Prime-Age 2012 Digital print 42 x 42 cm Private collection © Rosemarie Trockel, DACS 2013 Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
Rosemarie Trockel Lucky Devil 2012 Stuffed crab and Perspex base with fabric 78 x 78 x 78 cm Private collection © Rosemarie Trockel, DACS 2013 Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
Rosemarie Trockel Lucky Devil 2012 Stuffed crab and Perspex base with fabric 78 x 78 x 78 cm Private collection © Rosemarie Trockel, DACS 2013 Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
Aurelia aurita, jellyfish model
Aurelia aurita circa 1876 Glass The Natural History Museum, London © The Natural History Museum, London 2012
Rosemarie Trockel in collaboration with Günter Weseler Fly me to the moon, 2011 Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Rosemarie Trockel in collaboration with Günter Weseler Fly me to the moon, 2011 Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Rosemarie Trockel Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Rosemarie Trockel Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Rosemarie Trockel Less Sauvages than Others, 2006 Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Rosemarie Trockel Less Sauvages than Others, 2006 Installation view, Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos Serpentine Gallery, London (13 February - 7 April 2013) © 2013 Jerry Hardman-Jones

Rosemarie Trockel is an artist who enjoys experimenting with various styles, yet ensures all her works are infused with a healthy dose of surrealism and her customary dark humour.

Her strange works vary from a cage full of motorised birds to a large dead crab sat atop a perspex case filled with textiles. On top of these enjoyable oddities, the central room is the dark heart of the exhibition containing disturbing imagery. Whether it's a mother neglecting her baby while gazing over holiday snaps or a green leg in fishnets that looks decidedly reptilian.

Not all of her works hit the mark and her abstract wool 'paintings' get tedious very quickly. The first room containing book covers and adverts lacks cohesion.

Trockel is also a collector including works that are not her own but that fit in with the oeuvre of the exhibition. These include a set of jellyfish models delicately recreated using glass, on loan from the Natural History Museum. There is also a bizarrely brilliant stop motion animation by Wladyslaw Starewicz where a couple of anthropomorphised beetles conduct extramarital affairs to escape the tedium of their daily lives.

This retrospective reminded us of the quirky stylings of another German artist, Hans Peter Feldmann, who had an exhibition at the Serpentine last year. The sense of humour is very similar and though Trockel has some great works on display that are worth seeing, her hit to miss ratio is not as strong as Feldmann's.

Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos is on at the Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA until 7 April. Admission is free.

Last Updated 17 February 2013