Joachim Babdau: Le Ruisseau Noir
A white square attached to a white body. This hybridization of body and art (Beinprothesen-Sarg, 1972) is one of Joachim Bandau鈥檚 earliest sculptures. It lies in the middle of the gallery space, as if washed ashore by a torrent of black water: that of the surrounding Schwarze Aquarelle, whose flow the German artist has been trying to control since the early 1980s.
The title, Le Ruisseau noir, refers to a late painting by Gustave Courbet. A large-format from 1865, currently in the collections of the Mus茅e d鈥橭rsay, that takes us into a narrow gorge darkened by lush vegetation, near Ornans, where the Br猫me stream flows slowly. Although no human or animal presence can be seen in this deep ravine reminiscent of an unspoiled 芦jungle禄, tree stumps and rocks almost resemble bodies washed ashore. This mysterious nature becomes the physical and mental refuge of a solitary walker. Courbet and Bandau share this attraction for dark, enclosed spaces, where one can withdraw into oneself. The German artist, who barely escaped several bombings during the Second World War, took an interest in forms of confinement, not only in his early sculptures, but later in his Bunkers, both places of withdrawal and deployment.
The exhibition presents three historic sculptures by Joachim Bandau. From 1967 to 1974, he produced sinuous and biomorphic structures made of polyester and rubber, evoking medical equipment or organic machinery, comparing scientific advances with the black atrocities of the Second World War. These 芦monsters禄, or 芦non-beauties禄, are imbued with a violent vision of the alienated body, both protected and constrained by modern technology. Sometimes moving and inhabiting both floor and walls, these sculptures underline one of Bandau鈥檚 main themes: the tension between confinement and deployment.
Movement is also omnipresent in Courbet鈥檚 composition: the river cuts through the landscape and crisscrosses the canvas. Water in motion permeates Bandau鈥檚 exhibition. It can be seen in the swirls of Verdeckter Arm (1971), in the shimmering surface of Flossenrelief (1974), but above all in the vibrations of the Black watercolors, initiated 50 years ago, which are superimpositions of light-gray watercolor layers applied by hand to achieve deep blacks. As in Courbet鈥檚 painting, black becomes the infallible absorption of light.
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A white square attached to a white body. This hybridization of body and art (Beinprothesen-Sarg, 1972) is one of Joachim Bandau鈥檚 earliest sculptures. It lies in the middle of the gallery space, as if washed ashore by a torrent of black water: that of the surrounding Schwarze Aquarelle, whose flow the German artist has been trying to control since the early 1980s.
The title, Le Ruisseau noir, refers to a late painting by Gustave Courbet. A large-format from 1865, currently in the collections of the Mus茅e d鈥橭rsay, that takes us into a narrow gorge darkened by lush vegetation, near Ornans, where the Br猫me stream flows slowly. Although no human or animal presence can be seen in this deep ravine reminiscent of an unspoiled 芦jungle禄, tree stumps and rocks almost resemble bodies washed ashore. This mysterious nature becomes the physical and mental refuge of a solitary walker. Courbet and Bandau share this attraction for dark, enclosed spaces, where one can withdraw into oneself. The German artist, who barely escaped several bombings during the Second World War, took an interest in forms of confinement, not only in his early sculptures, but later in his Bunkers, both places of withdrawal and deployment.
The exhibition presents three historic sculptures by Joachim Bandau. From 1967 to 1974, he produced sinuous and biomorphic structures made of polyester and rubber, evoking medical equipment or organic machinery, comparing scientific advances with the black atrocities of the Second World War. These 芦monsters禄, or 芦non-beauties禄, are imbued with a violent vision of the alienated body, both protected and constrained by modern technology. Sometimes moving and inhabiting both floor and walls, these sculptures underline one of Bandau鈥檚 main themes: the tension between confinement and deployment.
Movement is also omnipresent in Courbet鈥檚 composition: the river cuts through the landscape and crisscrosses the canvas. Water in motion permeates Bandau鈥檚 exhibition. It can be seen in the swirls of Verdeckter Arm (1971), in the shimmering surface of Flossenrelief (1974), but above all in the vibrations of the Black watercolors, initiated 50 years ago, which are superimpositions of light-gray watercolor layers applied by hand to achieve deep blacks. As in Courbet鈥檚 painting, black becomes the infallible absorption of light.
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