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Project #24: Petra Scheibe Teplitz
DavisKlemmGallery Projektraum, Kirchstraße 4, 65239 Hochheim am MainMOTIF
Especially in the summer, they suddenly become part of the scene: flies. No sooner is the table set for an outdoor meal than they’re there. We try to shoo them away with quick hand movements - to no avail. They’re intrusive and annoying, yet at the same time part of an ecological system that wouldn’t function without them.
One of the most overlooked creatures takes center stage in this artwork: the housefly appears in black and white and recurs throughout the entire installation. Each tin features a fly. The sheer number of tins creates the impression of an entire swarm. It almost seems as if one can hear the buzzing of flies—fascinating and yet slightly unsettling. An everyday motif thus suddenly becomes present and striking due to its numbers.
MATERIAL AND PRODUCTION
The starting point for the installation was a collection of tobacco tins. After covering each tin lid with photocopied patterns on paper, a housefly was stamped using the linocut technique and then painted with wax. The result is a multi-layered surface, relief-like and with texture. The working process repeats itself and is typical of the artist’s serial approach: fascinated by the material and the process itself, each tin becomes a new, unique realization of the same steps. Always open to small variations and the pursuit of an even better result. Thus unique pieces are created in series.
SERIES AND INSTALLATION
The installation comprises around 370 cans—and yet no two are alike. Arranged in the project space, the individual cans come together to form a larger whole. From a distance, the work looks like a swarm of identical, mass-produced fly cans; only up close do the differences become apparent.
Another striking feature is their arrangement: with the exception of those that, as is typical for the species, lie in a small cluster on the floor, the flies are all positioned as if in a choreographed dance, maintaining a consistent distance from the other flies around them.
In this context, repetition and mass production do not imply uniformity, but rather individuality on a large scale. With each new, handcrafted tin, the design varies slightly. Is this a metaphor for how human society is viewed from the outside? For Petra Scheibe Teplitz, the focus is on the material and the creative process—not on art-historical interpretation. It is up to the viewer to decide what thoughts and impressions they associate with the work.
THE ARTIST
Frankfurt-based artist Petra Scheibe Teplitz (born in 1952 in Isenhagen) is exhibiting in the project space for the fourth time (Projects #2, 10, 20, and 24 - all documented on the DavisKlemmGallery website). She works with found everyday materials, which she removes from their original context. Packaging and other expendable materials lose their function and become new image carriers.
A defining feature of her work is her serial approach. She works over long periods of time and develops her pieces through repetition—not as rapid reproduction, but as a slow, artisanal process. This working method is the inspiration behind the title of her current exhibition, “Day in Day Out,” at DavisKlemmGallery that features different series of works spanning five decades.
THE SPACE
The 20-square-meter space, where school supplies were formerly sold, is now available to artists from the DavisKlemmGallery as a project space.. Instead of limited opening hours, the space is open to the public at all times: a large window display makes every project visible. Changing projects, installations, works of art and artists can be discovered here. The current installation is on view through July 26, 2026.
