Art Karlsruhe Halle 1 Stand B11 und Skulpturenstand A17

7–10 July 2022
Dorothea van der Koelen - Art Karlsruhe
10:25

Art Karlsruhe 2022

Alongside artists such as Turi Simeti, Günther Uecker, Mario Reis, Mohammed Kazem, Fabrizio Plessi, Vera Röhm, Hans Jörg Glattfelder and, of course, Lore Bert, gallery owner, publisher and art historian Dr Dorothea van der Koelen will be presenting the top artists from her latest shows at Art Karlsruhe 2022. Today, we introduce two of the four artists who will be represented at the fair with a One Man Show.

Wulf Kirschner's main material is steel. Using different types of steel (shipbuilding steel, stainless steel, corten steel) and selected different electrodes (chrome-nickel, universal or lime-based electrodes), which he welds onto it line by line, the sculptor from Cuxhaven succeeds in inscribing a poetic colourfulness and painterly structure into his reliefs and three-dimensional bodies. Wulf Kirschner has devoted himself to the infinity of the line, it is his essential design element.

Welding line after line, Wulf Kirschner creates lines that resemble those of a book. The viewer follows them through the acquired reading direction. His works, which mostly follow basic geometric forms, are an expression of uniformity and diversity. No welded seam resembles the other and yet they unfold their effect in their entirety. Unpredictable in their structure and colourfulness, the lines develop a painterly quality and poetic beauty. His welded seam works show how great the possibilities for differentiation are within an apparently fixed system. Depending on the material he uses, his pictorial works can have a shimmering coloured surface or create harmony in warm earth tones. This can be observed particularly well in the relief works presented in a one-man show at the main stand of Galerie van der Koelen. The works presented on the sculpture square and in the sculpture garden exemplify how carefully the artist constructs his objects.

Drawing on the groups of Platonic, Archimedean and Johnson bodies, he breathes life into the delicate geometric constructions, giving them form in robust shipbuilding steel. In doing so, Kirschner attaches great importance to the balance of form and content, the latter being equated here with the design of the surface. The choice of electrodes and their arrangement allow the artist to poetically shape the work, entering into a symbiotic relationship with the sculptural form.

Born in Daegu in 1961, the South Korean artist Nam Tchun-Mo belongs to the Dansaekhwa movement. Dansaekhwa is an art movement that has been established in South Korea since the 1960s, which works in a radically abstract and largely monochrome manner and is perhaps most comparable to the European ZERO movement.

Nam Tchun-Mo's works are formally largely reduced to the basic element of the drawing line. Depending on the group of works, it has a different character, for example, it can be elegant and gently curved, as in the spring works, strictly formal and dead straight, as in the works of the beam group, or improvised and ingenious brushstroke ductus, as in the stroke lines works.

But the line does not remain on plane. It rises into the third dimension, reinforced by synthetic resin to form a relief-like structure. The exploration of the line and the capture of light – a parallel to the works of the Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem (Collecting Light works), who is also represented at the gallery's stand – are at the centre of Nam Tchun-Mo's creative work.

The effect of light on his works, executed in many different colours, the play of light and shadow on his reliefs establishes a link to his childhood, where, as a farmer's son, sunlight and shadow danced across the furrows of the chilli and tobacco fields stretching far and wide in his homeland.

The new exhibition Gestures in Lines by Nam Tchun-Mo can be seen at the Cadoro – Centre for Art and Science in Mainz until 14 September 2022. New works from the last five years are presented on two floors of the spacious exhibition building. We look forward to welcoming you to this great show in Mainz.

Works

Wulf Kirschner
Wulf Kirschner
2021
Wulf Kirschner - Icosidodecahedron
Wulf Kirschner
Icosidodecahedron ‧ 2020
corten steel, chrome-nickel welded
ø 144 cm,
inv. nº 5779
Nam Tchun-Mo
Nam Tchun-Mo
2022
Nam Tchun-Mo - spring 22-24
Nam Tchun-Mo
spring 22-24 ‧ 2022
acrylic on coated fabric
100 x 73 cm,
inv. nº 5962

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Dr.  Dorothea  van der Koelen

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