Planes, shadows, hues and reflections are subject of this research. For this study we have chosen for paper because this material has all appropriate qualities we were looking for. Paper is both flexible and stiff , it has colour, structure, it reflects and absorbs the light. Besides that it is one of the most natural materials for us to work with. By means of folding and cutting two-dimensional sheets are transformed in three-dimensional shapes, that form abstract images and shaded illusions. The photos were exhibited at the exhibition Lift Off, during the Dutch Design Week 2008.
Read the official exhibition text by Louise Schouwenberg
If we see a space as a sum of planes, lines, shadows, colours and reflections, we will experience it very different than when we continue to see it as a floor, ceiling and walls within which various objects are found. Every painter knows that he can best understand the essence of an image when he squints his eyes, and only notices what is truly important for him. He must always use colours, lines of real spaces. Christoph Brach and Daniera ter Haar show themselves to be precise researchers, regardless of whether they are investigating colours, materials or spaces. By playing with the basic ingredients, they test what is essential to reality and what distorts our perceptions.
For the Lift-Off exhibition, they present an investigation into spatiality, making use of the simplest of ingredients with which the painter accustomed to working. Indeed, when we only focus on planes, lines, shadows, colours and reflections, details that usually go unnoticed suddenly play an important role. The corners that move away from one another, the shadow modulation on a surface, darker at the top and catching progressively more light as it moves downward.
As a material for their investigation, Brach and ter Haar used paper, because this extremely fragile medium has more suitable qualities. Paper is both soft and hard, both flexible and stiff. It has colour and structure, and it both reflects and absorbs light. Paper is businesslike and it is intimate. The fundamental forms with which the team worked were the circle, the square and the triangle. By way of folding, cutting and rolling, they transformed two-dimensional sheets into three-dimensional forms with which they created simple illusions and abstraction, they invite viewers to look at the space in which they find themselves in a new way.
curated by Freek Lomme / Onomatopee and Dave Keune
www.onomatopee.net - www.davekeune.com
