AFTER NATURE

Material, Form, Structure
June 25 to September 10, 2017

In this exhibit, the Museum Sinclair-Haus focuses on artists who found their working materials and inspiration within nature. Materials such as wood, grass, flower seeds or peat serve to create mainly sculptures and objects. Others use natural forms as an orientation for their works, or take advantage of the wind, the movements of a flock of birds or the architecture of a honeycomb to compose their images. The order of nature is also dissolved or reformatted in some of the works: plants are dissected into their individual parts and re-sorted, grouped and arranged in accordance with the artist’s aesthetic standards. The specific characteristics of the materials often form essential traits of the works, for example the fragility and delicate structure of flower seeds. Working with organic materials can also necessitate unforeseen changes to the working process, and some artists consciously make this part of their works. Thus, many works are created in the space between conscious artistic direction and happenstance; nature and artist often compose hand in hand.

In cooperation with the Offenbach Academy of Design 
  

Johannes Wöhrlin, Parametric Skin, 2014, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
Werner Henkel, Ohne Titel (Gerollte Silberpappelblätter), 2014
Ceramic Woods, Gruppenprojekt der Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, 2017
Julius von Bismarck, Landscape Painting (Desert), Filmstill, 2015
Mario Reis, Naturaquarelle, 1983–2016
Giuseppe Licari, Humus, 2015

“For truly, art resides in nature.
He who can extract it, owns it.”

Albrecht Dürer

The colours of the earth are another focus of the exhibition. Using various artistic methods, examples of the infinite spectrum of earth colours is collected and documented. The need to appropriate these colours and forms of nature especially, and ultimately to imitate them, is also reflected in the works of art on display. The boundaries between real and imitated nature become increasingly blurred. This leads to the question what the term “natural” means today – where is the boundary between “real” and “artistic”, between “fake” and “authentic”?

For the students of Professor Markus Holzbach at the Institute for Material Design at the Academy of Design (HfG) in Offenbach, materials and the quoting of natural forms and structures is also the centre of attention. The surface consistency and inner structure of natural materials are examined and experimented with. They form the starting point for the development of objects, often at the interface of art and technology. Natural materials interlock with synthetic matter, resulting in cross-over and mixed forms.
We are delighted that the HfG accepted our invitation to enter into a dialogue between the works of art on display and its own experimental objects.

The exhibition includes works by Mirko Baselgia, Julius von Bismarck, Daniel Bräg, Christoph Brech, Ricardo Calero, Peter Emch, Angela M. Flaig, Werner Henkel, Angela Kiersch, Wolfgang Laib, Giuseppe Licari, Maximilian Prüfer, Mario Reis, Max Schmelcher, Rikuo Ueda and herman de vries as well as Prof. Dr. Markus Holzbach and students at the Institute of Material Design at the Offenbach Academy of Design.

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