Introduction

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce the opening of Heavy Metal Body, new sculptures by Angela Bulloch, which will inaugurate Esther Schipper’s new gallery space at Potsdamer Strasse 81E, in parallel to Take Over, an exhibition of new works by Anri Sala.

Three new sculptures which expand the body of work that Angela Bulloch has been developing since 2014, will be presented in a flexible-use space adjacent to the main exhibition area. Each of the Stacks offers a distinct rhythm created by the variations in shape, size and color of its elements. The surface of the vertically assembled rhomboid shapes, painted in a combination of light, bright or dark colors, creates an optical illusion of pushing and pulling planes. Designed within a digital imaging program, each stacked rhombus appears distinct while at the same time relating to the others. From one side the irregular aspect dominates, while from another the impression of a certain totemic regularity prevails. By using contemporary technology to transpose Euclidian geometry into a three-dimensional sphere, the artist conjures up sculptures in a weightless space, allowing virtuality and reality to coexist.

Drawing on her previous experiments with geometrical distortion, these new works expand in form and size. If the stylized geometry of Heavy Metal Tall Stack: Beige and Blues, which stands at more than three meters tall, recalls the formal aesthetics of Constantin Brâncuși’s sculptures, something about the appearance of Heavy Metal Stack: Fat Beige Three and Heavy Metal Stack of Four: Red Monster—three massive rhomboid elements for the former and a pyramid-like shape for the latter—associated with their title, invokes the idea of an anthropomorphic presence. By changing the appearance of each column in accordance to one’s point of view, Bulloch plays with our perception of sculptures while orchestrating our experience as gallery visitors. To envision the work in its entirety the viewer must circulate around the sculpture, which at times seems graphic—almost abstract—shifting between two and three dimensions. Here, the artist transfers major themes of Minimalism into the present, and more specifically, the aesthetic exploration of objects’ influence on spatial perception.

If each sculpture exists for itself, they also function as an ensemble, and form a dialogue with other categories of Bulloch’s works. Never Eat Cress—which refers to the mnemonic “Never Eat Cress, Eat Salmon Sandwiches and Remain Young” reminding us how to spell “necessary”— is a wall painting that echoes and adapts the rhomboid shapes of the sculptures in a two-dimensional plane. The artist confronts contemporary technology, used for the conception and realization of the work, to the long tradition of wall painting, addressing artists’ preoccupations linked to representation, form, and color.

Angela Bulloch’s sculptures and wall paintings, like the rest of her oeuvre, manifest her interest in systems, patterns and rules, as well as the creative territory between mathematics and aesthetics.