KIRSTEN KRÜGER

Artist statement
 

Ants room (2003)
My sculptures address images and atmospheres derived from the collective human basic vocabulary. They embody artificially created situations which invariably and implicitly relate to various levels of perception. With regard to the choice of both materials and images I consciously use a language of symbols which, rather than camouflaging its secrets by means of a specific code, allows their revelation through the concentration on that which is plainly discernible.

This language of symbols frequently makes use of archaic objects (as for example a hut, a place to sleep or a campfire site), but also employs elements of modern civilization (such as a bus stop) or concerns itself with natural spaces seen as a home provided for mankind – resulting in sculptures usually life-sized and frequently juxtaposing two or more components. No bias whatsoever is put on the artificial or natural origin of the materials used; their individual qualities assist the transformation of the depicted objects.

Within this existential context, the utilization of a symbolic idiom also serves to establish a reference to myths and traditional forms of imagery; rather than merely reproducing them, however, such allusions provide alternative options of associations to be traced by the observer. The human quality of the places thus depicted becomes the central focus; the emergence of any irritations, displacements or alternative lines of interpretation, culminating in a situation felt to be altogether unstable and insecure, is distinctly intentional.

The emotional aspect of sculpture, its immediate, tangible quality as a bodily presence, is used in order to evoke specific associations, opening new vistas for the observer’s imagination.

Kirsten Krüger

 

Selected catalogue and speech texts, mostly in german language.

English Language Documents
The Smile Of the Spider (Dr. Stephan von Wiese, 33kb)

 
Texts
Rede zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung in der Galerie Peter Tedden in Düsseldorf (Anke Volkmer, 09/2011, 42kb)
Rede zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung in der Umtrieb Galerie für aktuelle Kunst in Kiel (Dr. Maren Welsch, 12/2005, 114kb)
Zeit - Zu einem Environment von Kirsten Krüger (Museum Baden Solingen, Dr. Stephan von Wiese, 06/2005, 47kb)
Rede zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung im Museum Baden in Solingen (Gisela Elbracht-Iglhaut, 07/2004, 54kb)
Orte der Wandlung - Körper des Übergangs: Skulpturengruppen von Kirsten Krüger (Katalogtext (Württ. Kunstverein Stuttgart), Dr. Jens Kräubig, 01/2004, 42kb)
Verlassene Orte - Zu den Raumskulpturen von Kirsten Krüger (D/F) (Kunst Forum d'Art Franco-Allemand, Dr. Stephan von Wiese, 10/1999, 341kb)

 
Catalogue
Katalog der Stuttgarter Ausstellung (Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Dr. Jens Kräubig, 02/2004, 1537kb)

URL: www.kirstenkrueger.de/en/texte/

© 2011 Kirsten Krüger Contact deutsch | english