Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY 2018
Photo Credit: Object Studies
An exciting solo exhibition of mixed-media works by Claudia Wieser is currently taking place in New York. The Marianne Boesky Gallery is hosting “Chapter,” in a means to celebrate the exceptional talent of this Berlinbased artist. The show runs until April 14, 2018.
Drawing inspiration from the BBC Television series “I, Claudius” (1976), Wieser transforms the gallery’s white box into an arena where history, artifice, and social constructs collide. Wieser’s practice derives from the distinct, but interrelated realms of fine art, architecture, design and film. These elements are united by Wieser’s engagement with geometric patterning as a means of abstraction and a manifestation of spirit, psychic space, and the subconscious. The exhibition highlights Wieser’s adept ability to create an experiential environment through a reductive vocabulary of composite wallpaper, ornamented woodwork, gilded drawings, hand-painted tiles, and multifaceted mirrors.
Against the backdrop of Wieser’s wallpaper, there are three tiled plinths that function as monoliths as well as stages populated with groups of wooden sculptures. For Wieser, the varying shapes and sizes of the sculptures are indicative of their personalities, like a family constellation — restrained, robust and refined. She distinctly adorns each by hand further emphasizing their individual characteristics. This gathering of characters, of which the viewer becomes one, is reflected back by mirrors, copper, and other metal-leafed works installed in the scenography. Here, as in a movie, what is real and imagined is indiscernible and the span of time is skimmed, cropped, and erased. The individual chapters of a life or a story are conflated with memory and perception. Guided by Wieser’s meticulous hand, the scene provokes questions about the relationships between these elements inviting viewers to create their own associations and narratives.
