set
22.09. bis 01.10.2017
Florian Japp

 

 

Vernissage:   Donnerstag, 21.09.2017 um 19 Uhr

 

Finissage:   Sonntag, 1.10.2017 von 16 bis 19 Uhr

 

 

© Florian Japp

 

 

"Dear Florian,

 

last time we met in your studio in Treptow earlier this month, we talked about humour. We also talked about stuff. Things. Objects. Dinge. Zeugs. The studio was packed with new work and discussing it seemed urgent.

 

I experience a great deal of playfulness in your work, not just in the work process which is visible in your busy studio packed with experiments, but also in the finished sculptures. The fact that you remove the object from its commonly understood function is, to me, one of the most interesting aspects of your work. You call your sculptures «misplaced objects». There is a grounded nonarrogance in that.

 

I was cycling through the park Gleisdreieck after our last meeting and began relating your sculptures to the shapes and colors of the new shiny playgrounds in the park. The brain was doing its usual thing: categorising. The same thing happened as I entered the street outside your studio where there was a large building site: I kept on relating the shapes, volumes, colours and textures of the building materials to your sculptures.

 

Returning to your studio for another visit, I managed to stop my usual categorising and rather found joy in associating: there are a lot of new contrasting textures and materials to be found in your current sculptures. Some are tacky, like the shiny silver coloured decorative material you would see in a pub or as part of a karaoke stage. Others are absurd, like the white clay Marie Antoinette wig like shape you´ve placed on top of a brightly turquoise painted cylinder. There was also a black trolley like sculpture on wheels which made me think of Giacometti and Twombly. Some sculptures have cucumbers as part of them. Others have flowers, or playing cards or honey producing bees.

 

In my opinion, this is where one of the key elements of your work lies: these objects, these things, these Zeugs are at the wrong place at the wrong time. An absurdity we can all relate to.

 

Warm wishes,

 

Eli Skatvedt"

 

Oslo, 29. August 2017