Renate BERTLMANN Austrian, b. 1943

Bertlmann began making the Tender Objects (touches) in 1975. The object trouvés – pacifiers and condoms – take the form of the body-parts they stand in for: the pacifier imitates the curvature of the female breast; the condom replicates the shape of the penis. Both accentuate the orifice from which male or female secretions are emitted. […] Moreover, in mimicking male and female organs, the objects also match their “organs of reception”: the pacifier fits the child’s mouth; the condom is shaped for the vagina.[…] Bertlmann comes close to pre-modern biological ideas, which understood masculinity and feminity as merely variations on a single sex. (Katharina Sykora, 2016)

The radical Austrian artist Renate Bertlmann has been active since the 1970s. For the past fifty years, she has focused on issues of love, sexuality, gender and eroticism, often using her own body as a medium. Bertlmann's diverse practice spans painting, drawing, collage, photography, sculpture and performance. Her work actively confronts the social stereotypes assigned to masculine and feminine behaviours and relationships.