ITEM PERSPECTIVA - Group Show / June 29 - August 10, 2013
SOL CALERO • HERIBERT FRIEDL • LENA INKEN SCHAEFER
Opening: June 28, 2013, 6-9 pm
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Item Perspectiva: Von Flüssigen Stammbäumen im Geröll der Vernetzung is a group exhibition originating from the integration of two different identities and locations.
Upon the invitation of Beaumont Public in Luxembourg, KROME Gallery organized a survey exhibition bringing together ten different, seemingly antithetical artistic positions. The exhibition forms a cross section of artistic approaches united around the examination of codifying systems in slippage and a focus on the gaps in taxonomic thinking. Three of these artistic positions are being presented in Berlin.
The work Column Construction N° 3 by Sol Calero is based on research the artist conducted in recent years on West German pottery. Characterized by kitsch and vibrant colors, the ceramic vases evolve on three different levels. Here, the decorative level intertwines with the historical one, but at the same time, functionality is a fundamental aspect.
A tower of twenty ceramic vases, stacked by Sol Calero, appears to act as a pillar for the arch in the middle of the gallery space. As an interface, it separates the first room of the gallery from the space in the back. Sol Calero’s column vertically spans this imaginary passage. Its potential fragility creates a sense of the uncanny. Without regard for stabilizing features or the force of gravity, one vase is stacked on top of the other and shows no sign of being attached. Similar to the column by Constantin Brancusi, it conveys infinity and seemingly emerges out of the ground. By comparison, however, Calero’s column has been excised from the context of different eras. Each vase is capable of recounting a past history, and, at the same time, also conceals a potential future value.
Pottery is often collected because of the object’s characteristic neutrality, although it increases in museum or historical value over time. In general, signs on the vase are useful in tracing their origins and thus in identifying their historic value. However, Sol Calero hides this codification by allowing the production number, the year, or the factory code on the bottom of the vase to disappear as a result of the stacking.
The ontology of West German pottery becomes the subject of a hypothetical anthropological study of found objects acquired at flea markets and thus the overriding theme of the work Column Reconstruction Study. Multiple vases from different time periods are positioned on a table alongside foam material as if recently unpacked and ready for an archaeological investigation. If the positioning here is also highly unstable and precarious, so too is the ruler that functions as a technical parameter.
Forrest Poston also undertakes a fictitious study in the video This Is Not a Pitcher: Getting a Handle on West German Art Pottery. In a scholarly fashion, he recounts while at home the ontology of West German ceramics, ostensibly embarking on a journey to the bygone era. The stories, historical data, research, or simply just hypotheses intermix to create a new reality that likely never existed as such. Left over at the end of this investigation is a vase, which is absurd even in its functionality, and which is located on the windowsill of the gallery: the ornament of the ornament.
In the work of Lena Inken Schaefer, the difference between signifying sign and ornament also stands out. Ten different handmade drawings are presented in a five-meter long series under Plexiglas. An astute eye will notice the almost imperceptible differences between the patterns of the two series. In one drawing, a pattern is repeated from the preceding drawing, while the color is adapted to subsequent drawings. A shift transpires that is only actualized with an awareness of the meaning of these decorative patterns. In the series presented a transformation takes place, a smooth transition, from pink to green. From 5000 to 50 000.
Lena Inken Schaefer has painted the patterns of banknotes. These patterns are the genetic code of the banknote and they also make it possible to figure out which particular bill they represent. However, Lena Inken Schaefer has not only removed these patterns from their context, but has also enlarged them multiple times. In so doing, they are ultimately stripped of any historical referencing or recognizability. What remains is only an aleatoric element devoid of meaning, which could be perceived as a decorative element. However, these patterns tell the story of the period of inflation in Germany in 1923, when German money lost so much value in such a short time that banknotes had to be produced non-stop.
Money- an element that normally enables exchange and simultaneously determines its rules- breaks down, just like its recognition-enabling signs, produced by the halves and combined together, appear as if they were the image of an ancient find in the manner of archaeological excavations.
For Untitled (Fountains), Heribert Friedl conducted on-site research. As with his other works, the room itself or the surrounding space was scanned for forms and associated olfactory clues. Reflected in the shapes of the work are the two forms of the fountain in the courtyard: a circle and a rectangular form with half-rounded sides. Heribert Friedl completes the work with two different fragrances. The visitor is invited to rub the surface and smell it. The tension between these architectural elements—the pseudo-Baroque reference to the slick presentational style of the gallery—emerges in this way. The rigor and austerity is interrupted by the fragrance and suddenly turns into a sensual, moving narration, but without losing itself in this pseudo-opulence. Of course, whether to embark on this journey is left up to the viewer to decide.
Lena Inken Schaefer
untitled
2013
10 drawings
water color on cotton paper
each 90 x 50 cm
Lena Inken Schaefer
untitled
2013
10 drawings
water color on cotton paper
each 90 x 50 cm
Heribert Friedl
untitled (fountains)
2013
color and scent on wall
variable dimensions
Sol Calero
Column reconstruction study
2013
10 ceramic vases, table, foam material
variable dimensions
Sol Calero
column reconstruction N°3
2013
20 ceramic vases
variable dimensions
Sol Calero
column reconstruction N°3
2013
20 ceramic vases
variable dimensions