Claus Richter – In front of the backdrop, behind the scenes …
Sunday, 14 October 2018
by tom-admin
Cologne, September 2018. How magical was the installation of his works at Art Cologne’s this year! I was fascinated by their playfully nostalgic, seemingly light-footed aesthetics; these figures, without exception, had awakened an almost childlike spirit of discovery in me. What was it about the devilish figures of the wall-work, holding the pendulum of the grandfather’s clock, grinning at me so provocatively? The wooden silhouette figures, on closer inspection, turned out to be anything but light-footed. Not only was a hand halted, but also time. A cut made for an end or a new beginning. Such interplay, disclosing profound stories against an apparently harmless backdrop, is typical of Claus Richter's art, as I will experience on my visit to the studio today ...
- Published in Installation Art, Painting, Performance, Sculpture, Studio visits
Eva und Adele – A total artwork from the future
Sunday, 16 September 2018
by tom-admin
Who hasn't seen them anywhere before? Their appearance simply attracts everyone's attention. Always dressed identically in bright, ladylike costumes, heavily made-up and with shaved heads, they usually only advance a few metres during their visits to the art fairs and events all over the world. All the time someone asks them for a photo. Since nearly 30 years you almost never hear them say "no". EVA & ADELE pose and smile - and that all the time. The smile is an essential component of their performance FUTURING, which dissolves any border between public and private. Only a few people know that this performance is accompanied by an impressive collection of paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, films and costumes and is represented in well-known museums and collections all over the world. The exhibition L'AMOUR DU RISQUE at me Collectors Room Berlin deals retrospectively with their complete work. An opportunity for me to meet them there ...
- Published in Exhibition reviews, Graphics, Installation Art, Mulitimedia, Painting, Performance, Photography, Public Art, Sculpture, Video Art
Matthias Wollgast – Genius Appropriation
Sunday, 22 July 2018
by tom-admin
- Published in Art projects, Digital Art, Exhibition reviews, Graphics, Installation Art, Mulitimedia, Newcomer, Photography, Sculpture, Studio visits, Video Art
Claudia Mann – The search for the origin of sculpture
Sunday, 27 May 2018
by tom-admin
Düsseldorf, 17 April 2018, Kunstgießerei Schmäke art foundry. Here I meet Claudia Mann, winner of the Düsseldorf Förderpreis für Bildende Kunst, a sponsorship for up-and-coming artists in the city. Her bronze casting "Solid Aero" is in its final stages. An unusual place to meet for a studio visit, given that at this stage the work of the artist is, in fact, mostly complete. Not so with Claudia Mann...
I drive to the courtyard and witness the patination of a sculpture by Markus Lüpertz. I observe the process together with Claudia Mann, and am surprised by the speed at which the chemical process makes the bronze change its colour. "I absolutely had to get a look at this. I'm still gathering my options, you see, and want to understand the extent to which it's possible to leave the pure cast skin", she tells me, and we are abruptly in the middle of the topic at hand. "
- Published in Graphics, Installation Art, Newcomer, Public Art, Sculpture, Studio visits
Manuel Graf – In the footsteps of animation
Sunday, 25 February 2018
by tom-admin
Düsseldorf, 30 January, 2018. My studio visit today gives me access to a very special area of the Düsseldorf Art Academy. It is the top floor of the former Reuterkaserne, equipped with a high-quality render farm. I have an appointment with Manuel Graf, who lectures here and also develops his own cinematic and graphic works. Graf, who studied at the Düsseldorf Academy himself, now exhibits in national and international exhibitions in various group as well as solo exhibitions, and has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships. His works move between sculpture, painting and film, but are more vividly described with the term animation art, as I'll explain later.
I enter a huge space that seems more like a research facility for new IT systems, than a place for creating art. So this is what a studio for virtual art looks like, I assert, disenchanted. The fact that this is a computer network for generating 3-D computer graphics and computer animations is only recognisable by looking at one of the screens. After sitting down at the high-tech equipped desk of Manuel Graf, I carefully approach this unfamiliar topic.
- Published in Digital Art, Installation Art, Mulitimedia, Public Art, Studio visits, Video Art
Thomas Woll – Virtual Reality?
Sunday, 17 December 2017
by tom-admin
Düsseldorf, 28 November 2017. Today I am visiting the studio where the artist Thomas Woll lives. He is master student of Prof. Irmin Kamp at the Düsseldorf Academy. Considering Woll's work moves between room installations, architecture and sculpture, so I am expecting a correspondingly large studio. Thus, I am quite excited entering the top-floor apartment. But it is surprisingly tiny. At first, the purist decoration and the thrown-together furniture make you think of a student flat, not a studio ...
- Published in Installation Art, Public Art, Sculpture, Studio visits
Jan Albers – Making-of Making Breaking
Sunday, 05 November 2017
by tom-admin
Berlin-Kreuzberg, 7 October 2017. Rather than meeting Jan Albers in his Düsseldorf’ studio, I met him during the process of installing Making Breaking, his current solo show in Berlin. Although his sculptures have participated in many exhibitions in important museums in the Rhineland, as well as in the United States and Australia, Berlin had never hosted his artwork. This was just one of the reasons why curator and filmmaker Nicola Graef, known for her film Neo Rauch – Gefährten und Begleiter, to invite Albers to the German capital, where she developed a unique exhibition format for the show.
- Published in Exhibition reviews, Installation Art, Sculpture, Studio visits
Jan Glisman – When and where does existence begin?
Sunday, 08 October 2017
by tom-admin
Cologne-Mülheim. My present goal leads me to the site of former industrial halls, located directly on the banks of the Rhine. This is where Jan Glisman's studio is. The artist became particularly well-known through spectacular actions, by means of which he initiated unpredictable processes for his sculptural work. But more about that later...
- Published in Graphics, Installation Art, Newcomer, Performance, Public Art, Sculpture, Studio visits, Video Art