Zoom on [Focus] Wien

07.11.2023

Constatin Luser – Bechter Kastowsky Gallery

Sculptural drawings floating in the air, rising from the floor upwards, descending from the ceiling or even emerging from the wall. Constantin Luser (1976, Graz, Austria) uses drawing to reach the third dimension and to involve space in his distinctive sculptures. Delicate shapes and peculiar figures, made of brass wire, intertwine and unfold towards new movements and light figurative alterations. Abstraction and figuration are interconnected in a game of virtuosity and elegance between shapes and lines. Our imagination travels among the drawings that are created and modeled in space, to lead us towards an ever-changing visual universe. The elegant relationship between forms and figures also continues in the game of shadows that are projected onto the underlying surface, a new visual universe is created and redesigned based on the light that touches these floating objects. Luser works are shifting sculptures that change appearance based on their position in the surrounding space and our point of view towards them. We circle around, approach and recede, the rhythmic movement of these undulating lines composes a beautiful symphony of visual waves that never ends.


Constantin Luser S3 02
Constantin Luser S3, 2023 Messing vergoldet / brass, gold plated 125 x 65 x 70 cm courtesy bechter kastowsky galerie copyright the artist. Photo credit: Manuel Carreon Lopez

herman de vries – Sturm & Schober Galerie

A tribute to nature and to the biodiversity that constitutes the natural world, the richness of life on earth: the plants, the animals, the microorganisms that compose the complex ecosystems of our biosphere. herman de vries (1931, Alkmaar, NL) has never been tired of talking about nature in his long artistic career. He collected, arranged, displayed fragments of nature in order to attract our attention to the variety and diversity of the natural world. He gathered remarkably diverse soil samples from all the numerous sites he has visited during his frequent journeys. He created rubbed drawings from these samples, revealing the extraordinary range of colors otherwise hidden beneath the undergrowth and ignored by humans. Through his works de vries reminds us that human beings cannot live without nature as we are all an integral part of the same ecosystem from which we depend on. His work does not seek conventional beauty but simply shows nature as it is. The artist invites us to reflect on the evolution, the changes, and all the elements that shape the landscape, modify it, develop it, and make it unique. de vries favors the aesthetic value of nature without symbolisms or decorative elements: "I only make quotes from nature", he declares.


Variation Of Different Earth Rubbings All 312 225 3 Cm Studio Herman De Vries
variation of different earth rubbings, all 31,2 × 22,5 × 3 cm, © studio herman de vries

Judith P. Fischer – zs art galerie

Transformation, change, movement, are the core elements of the multi-layered oeuvre by Judith P Fischer (1963, Linz, Austria). Her production, which consists of two-dimensional and three-dimensional works, with a strong focus on sculpture and drawing, uses the interplay between shapes, lines, and space as a recurring motif. The form cannot ignore the surrounding space just as the lines cannot detach themselves from the virtuosity of the forms. The shape can compress the space and vice versa, as it is evident in the drawing 'Terrain de jeu', an interaction of full and empty spaces, softness and lightness compressed in a mass of floating forms. The tactile sensation of the cushions compressed by the edge of the paper or floating in space (as in the second drawing) recalls the physicality of everyday objects. In Fischer's work, we are invited to rediscover the importance of physical objects, their relationship with the surrounding space, and their physical and visual identity that too often we forget to observe.




Written by Emanuela Mazzonis


Judithpfischer Spielwiese Terrain De Jeu Drawing 2023 92x68cm Zsartgalerie
photo: Judith P. Fischer / Bildrecht; courtesy zs art galerie