The artists Anita Leisz and Nora Schultz share an interest in how procedures of construction relate to the human body and to daily activity, but their shared concern for the sculptural issues of balance, volume, mass, interiority, and exteriority diverge at the crucial point of determining what it is that makes a finished object.
Leisz labors over minute details, as in the case of two sculptures titled Freaks, where it might be said that one of the sculptures has a head and a behind, while the other has two behinds. Or expressed in literal terms: of the total eight horizontal edges of the two rectangular forms, six have the shorter width of the material overlapping the longer breadth by two millimeters, forming three behinds; while two horizontal edges are finished with a beveled cut facing outward, forming one head.
Schultz, on the other hand, lets the process speak for itself, often leaving the artwork in a reconstructible (or modifiable? or both?) heap. In the case of In Out Press, a work also composed of two sculptures, large rectangular panels set on hinges with the word “In” cut into one and the word “Out” cut into the other create large book-shaped printing presses producing prints with diametrically opposed meaning. In contrast to the works by Anita Leisz, their construction is rough-hewn and seemingly provisional. The material is in service to the idea, with as little thought to precise measurement as possible.
Artists
Anita Leisz (AT), Nora Schultz (DE)Will Benedict
For the past several years Benedict has been working professionally as a photographer, painter and curator. Along with Lucie Stahl he runs the exhibition space and bar Pro Choice/L’Ocean Licker, which he uses to elaborate the more ephemeral aspects of his regular studio work. Social relations are treated as stimulating and destructive, they force Benedict into situations he would normally avoid and provide opportunities he never expected. Benedict said on more than one occasion that “sometimes an object’s history can be unfolded and sometimes the object enfolds you, takes over your body and you’re just a kind of zombie.” But he does admit that it’s mostly his fault if he ends up in this position—a bit mute, surrounded and a part of something. Or if he’s in an empowered position, he says that’s his fault too.
Galerie Meyer Kainer
Eschenbachgasse 9, 1010 Wienwww.meyerkainer.com