Martin Walde
26 Jun - 02 Aug 2014
MARTIN WALDE
ABOUT
26 June – 2 August 2014
In the exhibition “ABOUT” the genres sculpture, drawing, photography and performative interaction appear in unexpected twists and turns. Martin Walde is presenting a series of high-quality individual prints as well as seemingly classical group of sculptures made of wax that invite performative interaction.
The fragile prints on very thin Japanese paper were developed by the artist himself in a process spanning many years. The printing procedure, also known as MUD print, since it is based on mud, is based on digital technology and changing ʻrecipesʼ of substances such as polymers and colloids. The ingredients keep being mixed in ever-new recipes.
Martin Walde who works like in a chemistry lab knows how to make optimal use of his results for artistic purposes. Here his focus lies on the specific qualities of the materials and the observation of how these change and assume new forms in the course of chemical and technical interventions.
MUD-Prints are light-fast inkjet prints that bring together photographic and analogue elements. All information is incorporated in transparent layers. The incalculable blends of substances keep control over content, beyond a standardized industrial methodology. The contents become warped, while darkness and light draw on a rich variety of manifestations of materiality. This way each print assumes its own frenetic individual appearance. The impression of sculptural form and the extreme materiality of information let the Mud-Prints break away from the medium of “photography” so that they become objects. Peter Weiermair has described them as UMT Prints – unique multiple transfer print.
There are two sitting figures in the second room. These are wax models of a woman (Choice, 1995) and a man (Multiple Choice, 2013), that are reduced in scale. The surface is soft and transparent just like alabaster. In 2013 Martin Walde showed a version of Multiple Choice at the Art Parcours of Art Basel.
The figures are standing in a dark room and only the presence of people lets them appear for a short time. A movement detector triggers an intense but short illumination of the figures by means of an infrared lamp. In the briefly glowing light we see the sitting persons who are holding up their arms and hands to protect their faces. The heat of the IR lamp is a threat for the material of viscous wax. In these works the material is not instrumentalized like a traditional ready-made quote of “sculpture burning down” but rather used for its performative qualities.
ABOUT
26 June – 2 August 2014
In the exhibition “ABOUT” the genres sculpture, drawing, photography and performative interaction appear in unexpected twists and turns. Martin Walde is presenting a series of high-quality individual prints as well as seemingly classical group of sculptures made of wax that invite performative interaction.
The fragile prints on very thin Japanese paper were developed by the artist himself in a process spanning many years. The printing procedure, also known as MUD print, since it is based on mud, is based on digital technology and changing ʻrecipesʼ of substances such as polymers and colloids. The ingredients keep being mixed in ever-new recipes.
Martin Walde who works like in a chemistry lab knows how to make optimal use of his results for artistic purposes. Here his focus lies on the specific qualities of the materials and the observation of how these change and assume new forms in the course of chemical and technical interventions.
MUD-Prints are light-fast inkjet prints that bring together photographic and analogue elements. All information is incorporated in transparent layers. The incalculable blends of substances keep control over content, beyond a standardized industrial methodology. The contents become warped, while darkness and light draw on a rich variety of manifestations of materiality. This way each print assumes its own frenetic individual appearance. The impression of sculptural form and the extreme materiality of information let the Mud-Prints break away from the medium of “photography” so that they become objects. Peter Weiermair has described them as UMT Prints – unique multiple transfer print.
There are two sitting figures in the second room. These are wax models of a woman (Choice, 1995) and a man (Multiple Choice, 2013), that are reduced in scale. The surface is soft and transparent just like alabaster. In 2013 Martin Walde showed a version of Multiple Choice at the Art Parcours of Art Basel.
The figures are standing in a dark room and only the presence of people lets them appear for a short time. A movement detector triggers an intense but short illumination of the figures by means of an infrared lamp. In the briefly glowing light we see the sitting persons who are holding up their arms and hands to protect their faces. The heat of the IR lamp is a threat for the material of viscous wax. In these works the material is not instrumentalized like a traditional ready-made quote of “sculpture burning down” but rather used for its performative qualities.