Ralf Ziervogel: As If (Kat. Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg)

Sensational subjects are spread across Ralf Ziervogel’s (*1975) sheets of paper spanning up to ten meters in length: without preliminary sketches, ink drawings depict palm-sized figures in extreme physical situations. They are bound, entangled, and knotted. These are delicate, complex drawings that show predominantly human bodies forming monochrome, ornamental webs. In Ziervogel’s works, bodies become split beings that reflect all conceivable metamorphoses of human existence while also encountering its limits. Ziervogel has been working on a series of body prints since 2014: composed of fragmentary impressions in black gouache, the result is a new dynamic body on sheets of paper up to five meters long. Every movement, every impression and smear on the paper is accompanied by handwritten texts composed by the artist, which stretch across the black impressions like a spider’s web, forming a second level of the works. The new works seem more abstract and reduced to a minimalist formal language that simultaneously suggests movement and calm. The consistency of the subject matter results in three-dimensional works that are developed over the course of years or even decades. They are Ziervogel’s utopias, crafted as sculptures or installations. Enormous buildings and small test facilities demonstrate how an idea can be implemented with all the means available today. Key works in this regard are also the videos from between 2001 and 2004, which can be understood as short, effective descriptions of emotions and a system of reference. Ralf Ziervogel’s works have been shown at the art and architecture exhibitions of the Venice Biennale as well as the Kunsthalle Wien, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Fort Worth, Texas, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, the Deste Foundation in Athens, La Maison Rouge in Paris, and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, among other venues.

Exhibition:
Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg Hamburg-Harburg, 29/9/2018–27/1/2019