The Geometry of Things
02 Mar - 05 May 2013
Markus Amm, Sara Barker, Charlotte Moth and Robin Watkins
The Geometry of Things at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst assembles works by Markus Amm, Sara Barker, Charlotte Moth and Robin Watkins, which in different ways incorporate “points, lines, planes, distances, angles, etc.” [1] .” All four artists seek out the specifics of geometry, the kind of geometry that reveals itself in common shapes or historic artistic traditions, which furthermore is to be found in the quotidian or in scientifical experiments.
The exhibition title serves less as a strict, thematic frame but is rather meant to be a loose, formal bracket, connecting different artistic positions with varying statements. The Geometry of Things as a “language of man” [2] and underlying “rhythm”[3] can be found in any of the four approaches – sometimes evident, another time rather hidden. It is the common thread, which underlies these diverse positions in a spatial situation without constraining their individual perspectives. It is a platform which allows the works to spread out in their diversity.
The paintings of Markus Amm (born 1969 in Stuttgart, lives in Berlin) explore various fields of inquiry relating to the boundaries and possibilities of painting, space in its actual and constructed forms, and illusion and reality. The influences of avant-garde art movements play a pivotal role in his work – basic geometric forms and a restrained use of colour similar to that cultivated in works of Russian Constructivism, De Stijl and Bauhaus. While he is not disinclined to make use of traditional or everyday materials, their utilization entails the exploration of new methods of application.
Sara Barker’s (*1980 in Manchester, lives in Glasgow) sculptures seem to be three-dimensional drawings, which diffuse in space with the help of linear wooden strips, concrete levels, metal bars and glass in order to connect, disrupt, extend or reflect their surrounding. Surface and space, indoor and outdoor entangle, architecture and sculpture entangle and become an unity. A fragile unity as if they always would be slightly out of balance and just before collapse.
Charlotte Moth (*1978 in Carshalton, lives in Paris) seeks „the geometry of things“ directly by tracing it on her travels, tracking it in architecture or ordinary arrangements and by finally capturing it in photos, films or installations. Moth does not construct new geometry-inspired structures but instead gathers geometric forms where she finds them in everyday life. An important addition for her is thereby the architectural space of presentation, and its “inherent spirit of geometry” (Moth) which influences her work.
Robin Watkins (*1980 in Stockholm, lives in Berlin) grapples with everyday objects in order to reveal their secrets in experimental arrangements. They similarly focus on the complex relationship between periodic natural phenomena and the rhythm of social behaviour intrinsic to these. Watkin’s pictorial and physical representations of resting bodies, the passage of time and other moments of everyday experience form images that oscillate between constancy and the inevitable changes wrought by the flow of time.
[1]Wikipedia, 9.11.2012.
[2]Amedée Ozenfant and Le Corbusier, in Après Cubisme, Paris 1918.
[3] Le Corbusier, Vers Une Architecture, Paris 1923.
The Geometry of Things at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst assembles works by Markus Amm, Sara Barker, Charlotte Moth and Robin Watkins, which in different ways incorporate “points, lines, planes, distances, angles, etc.” [1] .” All four artists seek out the specifics of geometry, the kind of geometry that reveals itself in common shapes or historic artistic traditions, which furthermore is to be found in the quotidian or in scientifical experiments.
The exhibition title serves less as a strict, thematic frame but is rather meant to be a loose, formal bracket, connecting different artistic positions with varying statements. The Geometry of Things as a “language of man” [2] and underlying “rhythm”[3] can be found in any of the four approaches – sometimes evident, another time rather hidden. It is the common thread, which underlies these diverse positions in a spatial situation without constraining their individual perspectives. It is a platform which allows the works to spread out in their diversity.
The paintings of Markus Amm (born 1969 in Stuttgart, lives in Berlin) explore various fields of inquiry relating to the boundaries and possibilities of painting, space in its actual and constructed forms, and illusion and reality. The influences of avant-garde art movements play a pivotal role in his work – basic geometric forms and a restrained use of colour similar to that cultivated in works of Russian Constructivism, De Stijl and Bauhaus. While he is not disinclined to make use of traditional or everyday materials, their utilization entails the exploration of new methods of application.
Sara Barker’s (*1980 in Manchester, lives in Glasgow) sculptures seem to be three-dimensional drawings, which diffuse in space with the help of linear wooden strips, concrete levels, metal bars and glass in order to connect, disrupt, extend or reflect their surrounding. Surface and space, indoor and outdoor entangle, architecture and sculpture entangle and become an unity. A fragile unity as if they always would be slightly out of balance and just before collapse.
Charlotte Moth (*1978 in Carshalton, lives in Paris) seeks „the geometry of things“ directly by tracing it on her travels, tracking it in architecture or ordinary arrangements and by finally capturing it in photos, films or installations. Moth does not construct new geometry-inspired structures but instead gathers geometric forms where she finds them in everyday life. An important addition for her is thereby the architectural space of presentation, and its “inherent spirit of geometry” (Moth) which influences her work.
Robin Watkins (*1980 in Stockholm, lives in Berlin) grapples with everyday objects in order to reveal their secrets in experimental arrangements. They similarly focus on the complex relationship between periodic natural phenomena and the rhythm of social behaviour intrinsic to these. Watkin’s pictorial and physical representations of resting bodies, the passage of time and other moments of everyday experience form images that oscillate between constancy and the inevitable changes wrought by the flow of time.
[1]Wikipedia, 9.11.2012.
[2]Amedée Ozenfant and Le Corbusier, in Après Cubisme, Paris 1918.
[3] Le Corbusier, Vers Une Architecture, Paris 1923.