the point is something strange, it isn’t there, it has no surface, but you can start with it, return to it, orient yourself with it, it can take a position, it can be a point of contention, a starting point, i return to it.
point, line, surface area, body, form, color, tradition and risk, that is what this exhibition is about.
in mehdi moutashar’s childhood his painting materials were a stick and a level area of sand — the lines as indentations, the square as four indentations, and hatched lines. now the lines are flat on the wall as a drawing, a thread, black bands, an elastic rubber cord, or as blue/black painted square, standing in front of it.
jan meyer-rogge, in his early works for outside areas, working with impermanent materials such as timber, slowly rusting steel rods, and an intelligent construction, sought a self-sustaining, transient balance. this collection is titled: “balance of power.”
mehdi moustashar, by following a taut line stretched from one point to another, conveys a measurement which pervades his entire body of work. he closes this taut line by folding it in 90° angles to form a square, which becomes the starting point for the entire work. later he fills out this form to a blue or black metallic surface. black bands or closed stripes extend these starting dimensions into a straight area. he achieves a form through folding of the bands in progressive angles.
two structures standing opposite each other at the distance of a square, in this manner he can imagine a uniformed line-construction which connects them both. not some kind of perspectival or optically sophisticated impression of movement, rather a simple area with lines at an equal distance. here he uses hooks. these structures are connected with a cord, pulled from back to front and connected. the connecting goes slowly, from empty to full. the time passes slowly. two closed structures are connected to one another by a lighter, freer, taut structure.
at the moment he is fascinated by constructions of elastics, rubber cord.
in many of his works the procedure is the same, in the already described closing of the squared areas he uses hooks, he connects them with an elastic rubber cord, quickly from back to front, in curious anticipation. he pulls the elastic ball to himself, lets it go and in a second the form is on the wall, vibrating.
the quiet is gone, the structure remains, tension is added in a different manner.
jan meyer-rogge, in the inner exhibition hall of gallery hoffmann, will be exhibiting large steel objects and smaller pieces developed from circular forms. here he distances himself from the impermanence of material, from wood, from rusting metal, and turns to a nobler material — steel. the materials enable new forms and new kinds of balance. we will be exhibiting pieces from the series “moment des gleichgewichts” (the moment of balance) and pieces from the work group “gezeiten” (the tides). jan meyer-rogge did not want me to write very much about his work. he will be present during the two-day opening to talk about and demonstrate his work.
