Madeleine Dietz and Annette Sauermann deploy some of the basic materials of modern and contemporary sculpture (earth, light, steel, concrete, plexiglas), in order to “build” images manipulating the architectural langage in a clearly visual way. Their works resemble decorative or structural architectural elements (walls, columns), the functionality of which has been abolished, or even, peculiar constructions/monuments.
Madeleine Dietz uses two materials –organic earth and industrial steel, which reference the clash between the primeval and the contemporary. Standing in front of the work, it is not only the spectator’s sight which is affected, but also his/her touch: the earth’s warm, rough texture is matched against the steel’s cold, lustrous surface – a reference to the tension between present and future, positive and negative. The creative process (time consuming and strenuous collection and exsiccation of large quantities of earth, building of the steel surfaces) references the various expressions of man’s relationship to nature, collectively and individually. From the collective, incessant, presumptuous, catastrophic interventions to the environment, to one’s personal, humble relation to nature. The earth as eternal reference, final destination and possibility for regeneration. Annette Sauermann’s basic materials are light, concrete, plexiglas, paper. In this case as well, an organic –this time immaterial– element, natural or artificial light, is used as one of the work’s structural elements. Light, as a life-giving force, determinatively transforms the lifeless materials into a living organism which evolves and changes throughout the day and integrates the element of time into the work. Moreover, the materials’ qualities –transparency/semi-transparency/opacity, lightness/weight– are highlighted or distorted, acquire new substance, through the use of light and filters. Colour or its absence function as a reference to geometric abstraction and minimalism, in order to separate the image’s various levels. Sauermann herself calls some of the works –those which have the ability to draw light and reflect it to their surroundings– “Light Traps”. Reference, one could say, to the external, divine afflation on the one hand, as well as the ability of art and enlightened spirits to guide, whoever wishes to listen, to any type of enlightenment. Dietz’s and Sauermann’s works engage with man’s desire and constant struggle to build, construct, define her environment, as well as her inability to achieve this to an absolute extent. It is a destructive, perhaps self-destructive, process, which forces us to constant regenerations and reinventions. Lydia Chatziiakovou Curator |
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
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