Jan Klopfleisch and his Spatial Art
One of the most aesthetically pleasing and though-evoking installations I have recently seen, has been presented today by the Galerie im Turm.
The “Triangle” by a German artist Jan Klopfleisch suggests the leitmotif of one figure – the triangle, but if fact there are more of them, as the triangle matches with other triangles and they shape a square, a rectangular, or almost any regular figure. The name of the installation is somewhat explanatory, but at the same time it appears to limit viewers’ imagination, forcing them to seek triangles in every piece, and bring them out of all shapes. Perhaps, though, it is a deliberate move, for triangle is a perfect shape for dissecting almost every figure. It is astonishing to realize, that it, itself an ancient symbolic figure, can serve for creating various shapes – from a never-ending line to the circle. Think about it next time you’re cutting a pizza.
Another feature of triangle the artist has discovered and used in its full capacity, is its role in creating dimensional pictures. Some works thus are almost in 3D, as if there is a special effect added to that. However, on a closer inspection there can be seen differently shaded triangles that reach this effect. All pictures are in dark, subdued colours, and the thin yellow or pink lines along the edges of little triangles of which the picture is made, add to the sense of multi-dimension and spatiality.
Speaking of which, right in the middle of the gallery, going through the entrance door, there is a spatial installation – seemingly the highlight of the exhibition. Made of thin metallic tubes, and attached by almost-transparent threads, it creates a continuum of figures and shapes that are changed with the shift of perspective. The tubes are suspended in various positions, but not firmly fastened, and every gust of the wind through the open main door plays with it, slightly altering the whole picture.
Another objects at this exhibition I would like to distinguish, apart from the installation and tromp l’oeil geometric paintings, are the white and black plastic pieces, bend in various places at various angles. They resemble a white piece of paper, the one that you would fold several times to make an origami or a nicely made wrapping paper. It reminds me of the school years when, sitting at the boring math lesson, we would make a triangle-shaped paper planes out of rectangular sheet from a notebook. The coolest were the guys who could manage to direct the plane across the room all the way to the garbage bin; and I remember myself never been able to do so and being told-off by teachers.
But apart from personal memories, the images of paper, wrapping, discarding and looking for a right solution – all that is evoked when I look at those installations.
The “Triagnle” is multimedia, rich in connotations and ways of delivering the associations. The spatial art is not about statements or expression, though it is there, but about concepts and associations and subtle allusions. It is not out of every exhibition a train of thoughts and associations is following me. After this it does.
Three-dimensional Painting
A Spatial Installation
Plastic Objects