Germano Celant
Light as a sculpture
The world of Christiane Lӧhr (1965) is animated by a bright and airy alacrity. It reveals the vital, plastic strength of all that is fleeting, all that depends on the fluidity of a gust of wind, all that suggests the presence of a non-violent plastic animation that is light and sensitive. Her works, made of blades of grass and ivy seeds, horsehair and dog hairs, expose their vulnerability to the possible shocks that might jeopardize their composure and balance. These images take on the shape of domes and pyramids, clouds and pillows, reminiscent of all that is vaporous in nature. Contrary to the heaviness and the physical and environmental gravity of much contemporary sculpture, the aspiration of this German artist is to express (at Villa Panza, Varese, until September 5th) a sense of delicacy and evanescence, softness and lightness. She narrates the sensitive, euphoric quality of vegetable and animal vibrancy and its alteration, which is entrusted to her tactful, tender attention. These slight, delicate sculptures give body to foamy, floating forms whose fascinating tactile presence create a luminous harmony in their context. Hers is an art that gives rise to volumes and images seductive in skin-like softness and the blooming of substances. An art gentle and at the same time potent, expressing the drama of the calm of material transformed by stupendous, vigorous expression to revivify our modes of feeling and conceiving sculpture.