Kathrin Sonntag
30 April - 25 June 2011
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| © Kathrin Sonntag
BLAME IT ON MORANDI, 2011
81 slides, 27 motifs, Kodak-slidecarousel projection, sound, loop, size variable, detail |
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KATHRIN SONNTAG
Double Take
30 April – 25 June 2011
Kathrin Sonntag’s solo exhibition at Galerie Kamm bears the title Double
Take. As implied in the title an extensive installation ushers the
viewer into a miraculous world of doublings and similarities. Images and
objects that seem readable at first, evade familiar interpretation at
second glance.
The slide projection Blame it on Morandi shows the artist’s studio in a
180 degree turn. The camera eye travels along a table over a collection
of objects that are arranged in a way that resembles classical still
life painting. The dramatic lighting and the doublings and analogies in
the motifs create an atmosphere of mystery reaching its peak when the
succession of images unexpectedly winds into an impossible loop.
The starting point of the extensive main installation is Kathrin
Sonntag’s studio as well. A photographic wallpaper that illustrates her
studio on a 1:1 scale transverses the viewer into an illusionistic space
that - in the tradition of the Trompe-l’œil genre - simulates a
non-existing spatiality. With objects that are shown on the wallpaper
reappearing in the actual gallery space an interplay between object and
representation is created which causes the appearance and meaning of
things to falter. In the work Mimikry # 2 as well one is tempted to
succumb to an illusion. A brass umbrella stand in the shape of an
umbrella sits upon an ornately carved wood pedestal. On the wall behind
the object is an image showing a second umbrella stand holding two
umbrellas. A comparison of the two views reveals that the wooden
pedestal and the depicted umbrella stand share a resemblance, while the
pictured umbrellas return the gaze to the umbrella-shaped brass object.
The perplexing relationship between object and representation - the
strange concurrence of form and function - allow the eye to combine
similar elements and only the intellect is able to recognize what the
eye has aligned.
Playing upon Cornelis Gijsbrechts’ Trompe-l’œil painting the work Mise
en abyme, also included in the main installation, takes up the motif of
the pin-board. Leather bands that are pinned to the wall form a grid
structure holding diverse objects, like a playing card or a comb, and
images, picturing the very same objects. The title refers to the
underlying picture-in-picture principle according to which the objects
and images are organised in the pin-board. The juxtaposition of object
and representation constitutes a concentrated reflection of the genre of
Trompe-l’œil, thus leading back to the overall installation.
Through various further interventions and diverse strategies of
deception, in a finely orchestrated game of confusion Kathrin Sonntag
blurs the boundaries between the same and the similar. Her exhibition
Double Take puzzles the eye at the point where reality and appearance
seem to merge.
www.galeriekamm.de
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