PARIS.- Galerie Max Hetzler opened an exhibition with works by Inge Mahn. This is the artist's first show at the Paris gallery.
Drawing from the everyday, German sculptor Inge Mahn consciously alienates the commonplace, sensibly manipulating motifs to unlock a range of incongruous possibilities. Working predominantly with white plaster, the artist estranges objects through raw modelling, re-contextualisation, subtle subtractions and additions. In Mahn's practice, discrete sculptural elements and installations are meant to be activated by independent structures. Purposely ignoring the notion of the self-standing work of art, Mahn creates works that interact with broader architectural, historical and socio-political contexts, often formulating responses to specific environments. Foregoing the ready-made principle and the traditional concept of architectural and monumental sculpture, the works testify to the artist’s democratic intentions – often time-based or kinetic, they trigger one’s memories to comment on a range of issues such as authority, power and individuality.
The installation Fallende Kreuze (Falling Crosses), initially created in 1991, on view in the gallery's main space consists of an arrangement of white crosses floating weightlessly in the room. Some lean on the ground and seem to have tumbled while others almost reach the ceiling, in a bold balancing act over the abyss. Their instability is unsettling, yet a more playful impression emanates from the confusion of forms. The shape of the cross, a highly connoted symbol in sacral culture, immediately brings a broad imagery to mind. But it is rather the human scale of the crosses that Mahn sets into focus. Like bodies, the crosses spread their arms and dash through the gallery, liberating a sense of dynamic and gravitational autonomy.
Newly constructed for each exhibition space and thus emphasising Mahn's site specifc approach, Fallende Kreuze dominates its surrounding and demands a direct interaction with the visitor. Mahn follows an open practice that relies on dialogues with specifc environments as well as the viewer – momentarily activating her works through a spatial encounter.
Inge Mahn (*1943, Teschen, Poland) lives and works in Berlin and Groß Fredenwalde (Germany). Mahn studied as a master student in the class of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her graduation projectSchulklasse, 1970, was exhibited at documenta V in 1972 curated by Harald Szeemann, and is now part of the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington. Mahn held several professorships, lastly at the Kunsthochschule BerlinWeissensee. Her work was presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions, most recently at Kunstverein Braunschweig and K21 Düsseldorf (both 2017); Cahiers d'Art, Paris (2015) and Akademie-Galerie, Die Neue Sammlung, Düsseldorf (2014). Earlier presentations include MoMA PS1, New York (1981), Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1983), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (1988), Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (1990), Kunsthalle Helsinki (1996), Kunsthalle Kassel (1999) and Schweinfurt Museum (2006), among others.
