Das Fruehwerk. "It started back then, in the mid-1960s, with the fact that at some point I experienced looking at an object - the intense observation of a plant, a deciduous leaf, either in a mirror or by drawing the leaf - as something quite wonderful...". (Anna Oppermann)
It started back then, in the mid-1960s, with the fact that at some point I
experienced looking at an object - the intense observation of a plant, a
deciduous leaf, either in a mirror or by drawing the leaf - as something
quite wonderful. This meditative condition, the experience of becoming one
with an object, this is what I wanted to represent back then in order to
preserve the memory of this pleasant condition and make it possible for
other individuals to understand this experience, to enable them to have
the same experience of pleasure.
This was the garden of paradise referred
to by Freud, in which human beings could take refuge in their
imaginations, and it was naive in regard to how it was conveyed and
realised. Then (as I do today) I constructed still lives, in order to
paint pictures (individual pieces). These pictures contained stylised body
shapes, at whose centre was a mirror or a mirror with plant material.
Other attempts at seducing the viewer were drawn knees, either from the
perspective of someone sitting or in front of a more naively drawn table
with a still life, for example mirrors, fruit, bits of paper with sketches
(if possible trompe l'oeil), and I imagined that outside observers would
be able to imagine themselves inside the picture.
These expectations
likewise were hardly ever met, and that is why I built boxes that one
could sit in, or their negative shapes (according to the seated body) that
were intended to invite the recipient to observe in a leisurely and
meditative way the construction of real plants, drawn plants, photographed
plants, combined with quotes on a table in the box. It was only a small
step from here to the open arrangements that one can enter, sit down in,
or lie down in.
Anna Oppermann, 1978
Opening: Thursday, June 06, 2013, 7-9 pm
Galerie Barbara Thumm
Markgrafenstrasse 68 D - 10969 Berlin
Opening hours: tue–sa 11 am to 6 pm
Admission free