From the end of February until the Easter weekend in early April, I displayed a selection of my work at the Paxmann.art gallery. The heritage-listed water tower in Bornheim-Brenig provided the perfect setting.
To my great delight, well over 100 invited guests attended the exhibition opening on 20 February. The programme began with an entertaining and inspiring ‘artist talk’ between Prof. Dieter Ronte (former director of, amongst others, the Bonn Art Museum) and myself, before gallery owner Cornelius Paxmann opened the four levels of the water tower for visitors to explore.
The focus was on a selection of my most recent works, which, in terms of form and material, were influenced by my artist-in-residence in Mandranova, Sicily. The island’s unique soil conditions, as well as the kilometres of irrigation systems supplying the local olive groves, made such an impression on me that they gave rise to a large number of installations, sculptures and wall objects made of cement and fragments of coloured tubing.
In the installation shown on the left, real Sicilian soil was even used in the plinth, which my hosts kindly sent to me by courier.
Naturally, I couldn’t resist working with the pink clouds that have become my trademark, both on and inside the tower. I staged the water tower’s façade and the outdoor area accordingly. The exhibition also featured several of my reverse-glass paintings, a miniature cloud pump (inspired by Hans Arp), drawings, and wall objects made of Plexiglas and wire mesh.
Photos: Sandra Then
