Berthold Pott, Cologne
Johanna von Monkiewitsch, Daniel Boccato and Colin Penno
Berthold Pott is initiating a discourse between the most diverse approaches to sculpture, thereby illustrating the various levels and perspectives available to contemporary sculpture:
1. Diversities with regard to material qualities:
Light fiberglass sculptures by Boccato are juxtaposed with extremely dense and solid concrete works by Monkiewitsch, which in turn are contrasted with Penno’s cast aluminium works with interior cavities. Particular extremes are opened up in dialogue with the video installation, which Johanna von Monkiewitsch regards as an ephemeral, immaterial sculpture that requires only light, but which ceases to exist as soon as the beamer is switched off.
2. Diversities with regard to processes of origination:
Boccato’s wall sculptures are created on the basis of facial studies and drawings by the artist, while Penno upcycles remnants and waste found in his studio to create his abstract sculptures. In contrast, Monkiewitsch searches for light reflections in space and films these with her camera, visualising and creating sculptures formed from light effects.
3. Diversities with regard to image contents:
In Boccato’s ‘Faces’, the representations of the visages with mouth, nose and eyes are abstracted but still recognisable, whereas Penno’s works are purely abstract. Von Monkiewitsch’s video installation depicts ‘incidences of light’, which, although they have objective forms (e.g. outlines of windows) as their source, have become increasingly detached from the object through an image-reproduction-reproduction process.
4. Diversities with regard to presentation:
Boccato needs the vertical wall for his sculptures; his works have only a ‘front’ and ‘side view’ – their reverse sides are hidden due to their position on the wall. Von Monkiewitsch needs a projection surface for her ‘light sculpture”, whereby this can be the floor, the ceiling or a wall, and they can also cross different levels (in corners of vertical and horizontal surfaces). Her concrete sculptures require a classical pedestal presentation, while Penno’s aluminium sculptures stand directly on the floor, free in space with possibilities of 360-degree viewing.
