Sebastian Ludwig
07 Sep - 20 Oct 2012
SEBASTIAN LUDWIG
Canon | Kanon
7 September – 20 October 2012
When Noah learned that the Flood was on its way, he was faced with a colossal task: he had to create a new space to save life on earth. In the seventeenth century, the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher embarked upon a reconstruction of the ark envisioned by Noah. His detailed schematic drawings of the different decks of the vessel are, above all else, an extraordinary and betimes absurd attempt at the planning of functional spaces and the control of diversity. Sebastian Ludwig has adopted Kircher’s spatial concept for his own new works, however, he subjects this historic forerunner to a host of transformational processes: he has built a model of the ark, staged various lighting conditions, taken photographs and made copies the individual levels. In further steps, the artist has dissected the spatial context, isolated individual elements and reconfigured them. The result is a polyphonic composition like a canon in music, in which a melody is shifted temporally and the pitch or direction of reading is modified.
In this way, the spaces themselves move further and further away from the historic context and can be interpreted against the backdrop of the modern discourse surrounding modular architecture and systems of classification. However, for Sebastian Ludwig this contextual analysis is primarily a starting point for the long-standing engagement with the possibilities of painting.
Recently, the artist has been using the smooth surface of coated wooden panels for his paintings and has created illusionary pictorial spaces that experiment with perspective, geometry and pattern in virtuoso fashion. He has returned to the traditional canvas as his pictorial format, thereby linking up to an extent with his earlier works. However, he doesn’t merely use the material itself as a primer, but grants it its own voice as an independent pictorial element. The untreated canvas enjoys thus a dynamic relationship with the structured sections. Ludwig confronts the occasionally multilayered surfaces with architectural elements derived from Kircher’s models. By contrast to early works, the artist is less concerned about the creation of a stage-like space, but rather the viewer is a witness to the continued dislocation of spatial elements. Each work in the exhibition posts its own reply to the question as to how far space can be dissolved without completely renouncing painting’s pledge to three-dimensionality. The new works draw their fascination from the very oscillation between surface and space.
By creating a three-dimensional space but simultaneously calling it into question, the artist effectively subverts Athanasius Kircher’s incipient experiment with the modern domination of space. Sebastian Ludwig’s works function thus rather like polyphony music: the listener hears that there is a canon comprising several contrapuntal voices, however, during the performance, he doesn’t perceive the rigid pattern itself, but experiences a multifaceted and delicate sonic tapestry. Sebastian Ludwig transfers the temporal aspect in the experience of music into the duration of painting: in this way, the complex interplay between surface and structure, time and space can be re-experienced again and again.
Canon | Kanon
7 September – 20 October 2012
When Noah learned that the Flood was on its way, he was faced with a colossal task: he had to create a new space to save life on earth. In the seventeenth century, the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher embarked upon a reconstruction of the ark envisioned by Noah. His detailed schematic drawings of the different decks of the vessel are, above all else, an extraordinary and betimes absurd attempt at the planning of functional spaces and the control of diversity. Sebastian Ludwig has adopted Kircher’s spatial concept for his own new works, however, he subjects this historic forerunner to a host of transformational processes: he has built a model of the ark, staged various lighting conditions, taken photographs and made copies the individual levels. In further steps, the artist has dissected the spatial context, isolated individual elements and reconfigured them. The result is a polyphonic composition like a canon in music, in which a melody is shifted temporally and the pitch or direction of reading is modified.
In this way, the spaces themselves move further and further away from the historic context and can be interpreted against the backdrop of the modern discourse surrounding modular architecture and systems of classification. However, for Sebastian Ludwig this contextual analysis is primarily a starting point for the long-standing engagement with the possibilities of painting.
Recently, the artist has been using the smooth surface of coated wooden panels for his paintings and has created illusionary pictorial spaces that experiment with perspective, geometry and pattern in virtuoso fashion. He has returned to the traditional canvas as his pictorial format, thereby linking up to an extent with his earlier works. However, he doesn’t merely use the material itself as a primer, but grants it its own voice as an independent pictorial element. The untreated canvas enjoys thus a dynamic relationship with the structured sections. Ludwig confronts the occasionally multilayered surfaces with architectural elements derived from Kircher’s models. By contrast to early works, the artist is less concerned about the creation of a stage-like space, but rather the viewer is a witness to the continued dislocation of spatial elements. Each work in the exhibition posts its own reply to the question as to how far space can be dissolved without completely renouncing painting’s pledge to three-dimensionality. The new works draw their fascination from the very oscillation between surface and space.
By creating a three-dimensional space but simultaneously calling it into question, the artist effectively subverts Athanasius Kircher’s incipient experiment with the modern domination of space. Sebastian Ludwig’s works function thus rather like polyphony music: the listener hears that there is a canon comprising several contrapuntal voices, however, during the performance, he doesn’t perceive the rigid pattern itself, but experiences a multifaceted and delicate sonic tapestry. Sebastian Ludwig transfers the temporal aspect in the experience of music into the duration of painting: in this way, the complex interplay between surface and structure, time and space can be re-experienced again and again.