Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Heavy and monumental

The impact of his massive scale and base materials...a world scorched by war, history and ideals gone wrong...the work of Anselm Kiefer is monumental and powerful...the ideas are simple, but the sentiment is dark and forlorn...How can you carry the weight of a turbulent history and shamed culture on your back? Kiefer constantly tries, using base and transient materials like straw and lead...these works speak to that hefty weight balanced on the shoulders of a simple man...fragile, this relationship between artist and the past...

The chairs are missing their occupants, reinforcing the loss...the landscape is barren, burnt and smoldering...the fires may never be squelched...burnt stubs get smaller as they recede into space...the volume of the space is meant to go on and on...destruction as far as the eye can see...the color choices are natural and neutrals...grays, browns, ochres and tans...from the earth the past rises from the ashes and hovers above the surface...suffocating those viewers able to stay.


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