BRIGITTE WALDACH
04/09/–31/10/2015
In her second solo exhibition Brigitte Waldach presents a spatial installation in dialogue with large-format works on paper. Both media have long been the hallmark of the Berlin based artist.
Three drawings: Balance, Infinity and Animation
In Victor Hugo’s Roman Notre Dame de Paris, the cathedral is at the heart of the action. But as we know, the book is not only about the sacral architecture, but also notably addresses themessuch as love, passion, isolation, belief, and power. Waldach’s drawings Animation, Balance and Infinity fill Notre Dame de Paris with enigmatic life, visualized as clouds of quoted text from the novel that float through the architecture.
In her exhibition titled Welt, the profane meets the sacral, cultural meets individual. Three drawings depict an architectural work of historical and religious significance – the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris – from three different perspectives. Using these drawings as a point of departure, the lines in Waldach’s installation Weltlich/Worldly literally leave the paper. In the rear areas of the gallery the initial idea can be seen to evolve from a “dark” past to a “light” present, into a “white” future. The architecture of the cathedral, which Waldach animates on paper with clouds of hand written notations from the novel, extends into a spatial drawing with an accompanying sound scape. A mosaic of contrasting voices can be heard quoting seven historical documents and literary texts that tell of lust and love, ideology and anger, belief and destiny.
Drawing cycle System Sin
Seven drawing s with graphite and gouache on handmade paper, address the seven cardinal sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. But what do these mean today? Waldach presents seven allegories that take a leap through time to contextualize the cardinal sins in the here and now.
Installation weltlich
The gallery’s rear space is transformed into a three-dimensional drawing in which cultural and contemporary history are united. The contemporary transformation of the seven cardinal sins is also the subject of the seven-channel soundtrack for the installation – and thus links the three aspects of the exhibition as a whole.
Brigitte Waldach is known for her large format drawings addressing burning social and political issues, such as religion and terrorism. In her work she unites historical and contemporary elements, scrutinizing social conventions and values. The artist lives and works in Berlin. Waldach’s works are represented in the following public collections: Albertina (Vienna), Altana Cultural Foundation (Bad Homburg), Art Museum (Aarhus), Berlinische Galerie (Berlin), Kunsthalle Emden, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Berlin State Museums, Museum of Prints and Drawings (Berlin), MUST Museum (Stavanger), Moritzburg Foundation, State Museum of Saxony-Anhalt, Museum Kunstpalast (Duesseldorf).
