Chert, Berlin
For their first participation in ART-O-RAMA, Chert Berlin presents a show with works by artists Vanessa Safavi, Zora Mann, Hannah James and Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt.
Zora Mann (b.1979 in Amersham) presents a new series of “shields”, sculptures made of painted wood and resembling ballistic shields used during demonstrations and terroristic attacks. They aim to represent what politics have truly become, a symbol of border control.
Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt (b. 1932 in Wurzen, Germany) created during the 70s and 80s her typical typewriter graphics, and became an active participant in the international Mail Art movement. The works presented are part of her “Typewritings” and “Collages” series, which were made in the former GDR, East Berlin, where she lived at the time. Their appearance, similar somehow to cyborgs, alludes to the idea of power control and robotic alienation, political repression and command, all aspects of the particular geo-political situation she was living in.
Vanessa Safavi (b. 1980 in Lausanne, Switzerland) displays a series of abstract sculptures, made with sticks of steel and paint, representing stylised sketches of human figures which are associated to a variety of physical attributes. They focus on the question of identity through physicality, alienation and heritage, exploring at the same time the definition of “primitivism”. The minimalistic shapes are inspired by the constructivist aesthetic, as well as by a naive way of drawing human figures.
Hannah James’ contribution (b. 1985 in Nottingham), a small sculpture titled Do cyborgs have feet?, alludes to the evocative figure of the cyborg.
