Sebastian Ludwig
16 Jan - 28 Feb 2009
SEBASTIAN LUDWIG
Nullpunkt
January 16 – February 28, 2009
Zero point is a concept with a variety of meanings. In archery it stands for the precise distance at which the trajectory of the arrow and the archer’s line of vision intersect. This point is located respectively for each individual archer and yet forms the basis for the ascertainment of different targets. In science, the term zero point designates the beginning of a scale or the origin of a system of co-ordinates. Even moods can be close to reaching a zero point, where hope and motivation have gone, nevertheless a chance of a new beginning still remains. It is a concept that has taken on its own specific meaning in a variety of different contexts.
Similarly, one has to accept a degree of ambiguity in the works of Sebastian Ludwig. There isn’t a clearly definable motif as such, but the more one engages with a specific composition, the more elusive unequivocal access to the content becomes. For example, in the work entitled Adler (Eagle), a hare crouches beneath an igloo-shaped frame as a bird of prey approaches from above. Will the eagle seize the hare or is the hare merely bait for the predator? What is the function of the frame that separates both animal and bird—does it provide refuge or is it rather a trap?
And yet Sebastian Ludwig is not concerned with narrative. For him, each work is an engagement with possibilities of painting. Between the idea and implementation lie different phases of research and several stages of development. Ludwig often constructs three-dimensional models in order to study their detail. This highly-involved generative process provides him with the opportunity to explore the theme in question, but also to develop more the aspect of painterly execution or implementation, the canvas being the witness to this weighty tussle for representation. The canvas is a multi-layered plane comprising different structures: Ludwig has stuck certain sections onto it in order to allow the paint to take its course between canvas and foil. At a later stage he has cut or torn open the surface—the woodcut-like structures owing their appearance to a veritable destruction of materiality. Ludwig has delicately constructed smooth, flat surfaces by way of contrast, occasionally using spray paint to create soft transitions.
Despite these tensions, the artist is at pains to effect a balance that absorbs ambiguities and contrasts without necessarily concealing them. Sebastian Ludwig’s method of working resembles that of a chronicler, but one who draws upon material from many sources and centuries. He extracts his figures and motifs from various bygone eras, connecting and developing them and ultimately placing them in the present. Thus they take on their own unique existence in their new contexts; it is an existence imbued with actions and constellations that refer to fundamental questions, to which each individual viewer can respond respectively much in the same way that all archers must find their individual zero point if they are to hit their targets.
Julia Bulk
Nullpunkt
January 16 – February 28, 2009
Zero point is a concept with a variety of meanings. In archery it stands for the precise distance at which the trajectory of the arrow and the archer’s line of vision intersect. This point is located respectively for each individual archer and yet forms the basis for the ascertainment of different targets. In science, the term zero point designates the beginning of a scale or the origin of a system of co-ordinates. Even moods can be close to reaching a zero point, where hope and motivation have gone, nevertheless a chance of a new beginning still remains. It is a concept that has taken on its own specific meaning in a variety of different contexts.
Similarly, one has to accept a degree of ambiguity in the works of Sebastian Ludwig. There isn’t a clearly definable motif as such, but the more one engages with a specific composition, the more elusive unequivocal access to the content becomes. For example, in the work entitled Adler (Eagle), a hare crouches beneath an igloo-shaped frame as a bird of prey approaches from above. Will the eagle seize the hare or is the hare merely bait for the predator? What is the function of the frame that separates both animal and bird—does it provide refuge or is it rather a trap?
And yet Sebastian Ludwig is not concerned with narrative. For him, each work is an engagement with possibilities of painting. Between the idea and implementation lie different phases of research and several stages of development. Ludwig often constructs three-dimensional models in order to study their detail. This highly-involved generative process provides him with the opportunity to explore the theme in question, but also to develop more the aspect of painterly execution or implementation, the canvas being the witness to this weighty tussle for representation. The canvas is a multi-layered plane comprising different structures: Ludwig has stuck certain sections onto it in order to allow the paint to take its course between canvas and foil. At a later stage he has cut or torn open the surface—the woodcut-like structures owing their appearance to a veritable destruction of materiality. Ludwig has delicately constructed smooth, flat surfaces by way of contrast, occasionally using spray paint to create soft transitions.
Despite these tensions, the artist is at pains to effect a balance that absorbs ambiguities and contrasts without necessarily concealing them. Sebastian Ludwig’s method of working resembles that of a chronicler, but one who draws upon material from many sources and centuries. He extracts his figures and motifs from various bygone eras, connecting and developing them and ultimately placing them in the present. Thus they take on their own unique existence in their new contexts; it is an existence imbued with actions and constellations that refer to fundamental questions, to which each individual viewer can respond respectively much in the same way that all archers must find their individual zero point if they are to hit their targets.
Julia Bulk