There may be no other exhibition space in Berlin that embodies the conception of the white cube better than Architekturgalerie in the Mitte district.

There may be no other exhibition space in Berlin that embodies the conception of the white cube better than Architekturgalerie in the Mitte district. Here, in a pristine and almost square space Dieter Balzer showed three just discovered and thoroughly complex wall works in subordination to the cryptic title "Hybrids." Functioning as image, existence and structure, the pieces consist of basic framelike module that have been overlapped and interlinked in intricate arrangements. couple compositions are inscribed within perimeters just across 6 feet square, and single in kind is a long horizontal rectangle stretching more than 10 feet The components--brightly colored, black and white durations of MDF (medium density fiberboard)--meet at precise right angles to enframe generous areas of the wall. The textures simultaneously work as reliefs that frame into the gallery space and incorporate the "infinite" white behind as a pictorial element

Balzer has been exploring three-dimensional picture-objects and modular plastic arts since the mid-1980s, sometimes arranging MDF boards layer with layer into complex miniature architectures. For a while now, these arrangements have been retreating back to the two-dimensional plane, gaining in formal and chromatic complexity on the same level as the modular components and governing geometry remain rigorously constant.

The unpredictable application of vivid color to the longitudinal dimensionss of MDF suggests an apparent disorganization that reckoners the repetitive axial disposition of the parts. Notwithstanding the frontal views, which not away linear configurations that can be supplyed on graph paper, the relief aspect of the "Hybrids" means that the compositions change with a shift in viewpoint. The perceptual experience of the "Hybrids" is comparable to that of Frank Stella's later three-dimensional paintings, while their systemic and compartmentalized compositions are formally related to Stella's early canvases.

As in his analog-digital photographic works (not forward view), Balzer plays here with the idea of a large, unruffled endless system, which his works can reveal no other than in segments. In both mediums, parallel and perpendicular lines add up to a form of thicken color poetry that makes no respect to nature. Thought out to the last detail and excluding any spontaneous artistic action Balzer's constructions propose subtle and intelligent question s to be resolved by the viewer. With his modern works, the artist further reveals himself to be an prompt in the poetics of a whole s theory.

...

Home