Wednesday 23 February 2011

Christiane Baumgartner

 Attending the Private View at Alan Christia Gallery was an interesting experience. I could see first hand the reaction to the work and also the sales zipping through the tills ! I got to meet Antony Gormley and Alan Christia as a bonus.
The work itself had an incredibly powerful sense of quiet. I could imagine the hours spent cutting wood in contemplation - a monumental task. Most of the imagery is taken from banal locations such as tree lined avenues or jet streams. Others signal power and dominance such as the enormous imagery of planes. More recently Baumgartner has decided to use television imagery as her starting point. Photographing the images directly from the television gives her work a new layer of 'interference' - the camera picks up the lines, she in turn, picks them up in her transcription.
These images appear more 'busy' and active as a result - not quite as peaceful as the images prior, however it feels like a new journey for the artist. What I particularly thought was amusing was when the artist was asked what happens when she makes a mistake. She either finds the bit of wood and glues it back into the block or she paints it back in. Refreshing that she could be so honest I thought. Would anyone want to 'start again'  - I think not !
Whatever you do  - go and see for yourself. Fantastic show.
http://www.alancristea.com/artist-Christiane-Baumgartner

1 comment:

  1. Welcome to blogland, Heather!

    Sounds like a great show, but since its a bit far for me to get to the gallery, I checked out the website. Intriguing work. Noice.

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