galerie laurent mueller

ARÁKHNÊ

from March 15th to May 12th 2011

The exhibition looks at the way in which lines in different textures and material qualities create cross-genre links between drawings, sculptures and installations. Drawings have always served as an indispensable step towards conceptualisation and the creation of drafts, symbolising the very act of creating an idea and therefore manifesting an elementary part of fine art. Yet over and above this sketching function, many contemporary artists use drawings as an artistic means of expression which implies an ongoing desire to redefine and explore the limits of this medium. After all lines as the central elements of a drawing exist just as much on the two-dimensional level as they do in three-dimensional space where they function as vectors between two points and where they create a given volume. The exhibition highlights the different aspects and techniques of the medium. The broad spectrum of the positions shown, illustrates the seemingly endless variety of contemporary drawings.

The two central starting points in the work of the fine artist and musician Michaela Melián (1956) are history and topography. The exhibition will include Melián’s sewn drawings, with the basic motifs displayed through the medium of a camera. Photographs are translated into drawings, yet not by a conventional crayon or pencil, but by a sewing machine. The continuous machine-sewn thread shows the silhouettes of landscapes, buildings and streets. As the artist uses both an upper and bobbin thread, each picture has two sides. This reflects the historic heritage of many German towns and cities which often have both a visible side and a hidden side.