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Sculpture in motion About the works of Franz Bahr
Franz Bahr is one of the well known representatives of postmedial sculpture in the Rhineland. Born in Cologne in 1966, the artist initially studied in the metal sculpture department of Cologne University of Applied Sciences, and then graduated in design from the International School of Design. With his wide knowledge of the properties of materials, he succeeds in using new materials not just as materials in the experimental area, as commonly happens in the Arte Povera for example, but indeed operates with new meanings for these materials. A central moment of his work is the drawing, which is digitised so that the stainless steel shapes can be cut out exactly by laser and then welded precisely by the artist. Only then is air pumped into the empty shells through a valve. The plastic process of inflation, the geometry of the shapes and the sensuousness of the material create an airy three-dimensionality even in large formats such as Big Pillow or Awareness of Axa, which does not lie heavily in space, but extends weightlessly within it. The pneumatic principle undercuts the stylized and voluminous minimalism, creating reduced yet energetic figures which challenge the observer’s perception. The artist, who cuts the pictorial shapes out, subsequently allows them to grow into space in three dimensions, such as in the work Carnero, so that beyond the reality of the image the ram’s head becomes reality. A central theme of Franz Bahr’s works is the transformation process from the object to the image and back again, in other words from the plastic shape tipped in one plane to the three-dimensional. The artist’s sculptures are closely connected with the work of drawing, but more importantly the sculpture and the drawing each presuppose the other. The burning issue is how the objects strike our senses and how we sound out the perception between two- and three-dimensionality. As Franz Bahr grasps and shapes space, he demolishes the traditional boundaries between genres. In terms of Bahr’s work, this extension is not just limited to conquering space, but above all it involves an experimental way of dealing with it. Positive and negative, reality and appearance also play a role in the pneumatic sculptures. The flat sheets of metal which are initially given two-dimensional shape undergo a transformation, to extend and grow on the spot as a stable three-dimensional object. The pneumatic principle here turns out to be an interface between flatness and space. Unlike blowing up a balloon, the process can not be undone, it is irreversible. The dialectic of presence and absence, positive and negative, light and shadow is in the focal point of the work of Franz Bahr, which brings together sculptural and conceptual elements. © Dr. Barbara Aust-Wegemund, March 2009 |