Rolf Julius
15 Apr - 22 May 2010
ROLF JULIUS
"Under the surface"
15/04/2010 - 22/05/2010
The gallery Cortex Athletico dedicates a monographic exhibition to the German artist Rolf Julius. Underthe surface gathers a group of works which show the double approach of the artist, consisting in ahybride of music, sound and sculpture.
Born in 1939 in Germany in the post-war years, Rolf Julius discovered the Radio Bremen programme,playing La Monte young among others, which was an impulse to start mixing basic sounds it with hisfirst photographic works in the mid 1970’s. At the beginning of the 1980’s, he starts producing musicalactions, especially outside, sound objects, drawings and working with space.
Rolf Julius’ sound sculptures develop through an economy of means a subtle aesthetic, at the fringe ofthe visible and the audible.Concerning his work, the artist explains : « I have nothing to do with minimal music itself. I mean, Idon’t play music. When I use buzzers in my work for example, the music is decided by the materials.The result becomes minimal music, but it is widely dependent on the system itself. I react to the soundsand do what it suggest to me. In any case, my ideas about how materials determine the results are veryclose to minimal art. In fact, in minimal art there is the idea of what the material itself means.
The materials, like a sheet of steel and a music partition are the same thing for me. The reason why Ilove minimal music is its vacuity. Like a single tree on the horizon. »Loudspeakers placed on the eyes, with a veil of music vibrating the eyelids surface ; this musical actionis entitled Music for the eyes, and dates back to 1982. Delicate and poetic, the work of Rolf Julius doesnot impose itself, it requires an intense attention from the viewer/listener. You can watch the music ;pigments shiver, sand ripples, paper quivers, water simmers...You have to experience the works ; move from one to another, encountering fragile and fascinatinglandscapes of sound where the technicity, the music, the sound, the silences and the materials interpretminiature electronic gardens.
Cécile Broqua
"Under the surface"
15/04/2010 - 22/05/2010
The gallery Cortex Athletico dedicates a monographic exhibition to the German artist Rolf Julius. Underthe surface gathers a group of works which show the double approach of the artist, consisting in ahybride of music, sound and sculpture.
Born in 1939 in Germany in the post-war years, Rolf Julius discovered the Radio Bremen programme,playing La Monte young among others, which was an impulse to start mixing basic sounds it with hisfirst photographic works in the mid 1970’s. At the beginning of the 1980’s, he starts producing musicalactions, especially outside, sound objects, drawings and working with space.
Rolf Julius’ sound sculptures develop through an economy of means a subtle aesthetic, at the fringe ofthe visible and the audible.Concerning his work, the artist explains : « I have nothing to do with minimal music itself. I mean, Idon’t play music. When I use buzzers in my work for example, the music is decided by the materials.The result becomes minimal music, but it is widely dependent on the system itself. I react to the soundsand do what it suggest to me. In any case, my ideas about how materials determine the results are veryclose to minimal art. In fact, in minimal art there is the idea of what the material itself means.
The materials, like a sheet of steel and a music partition are the same thing for me. The reason why Ilove minimal music is its vacuity. Like a single tree on the horizon. »Loudspeakers placed on the eyes, with a veil of music vibrating the eyelids surface ; this musical actionis entitled Music for the eyes, and dates back to 1982. Delicate and poetic, the work of Rolf Julius doesnot impose itself, it requires an intense attention from the viewer/listener. You can watch the music ;pigments shiver, sand ripples, paper quivers, water simmers...You have to experience the works ; move from one to another, encountering fragile and fascinatinglandscapes of sound where the technicity, the music, the sound, the silences and the materials interpretminiature electronic gardens.
Cécile Broqua