Markus Wirthmann

About

On 03.09.2010 jens fehring gallery will be opening an exhibition featuring works by MARKUS WIRTHMANN (1963) as its contribution to the 'Saisonstart' of the frankfurt art galleries network. The exhibition will open at 7:00 p.m. In his installations and derived works, the artist, who was born in Aschaffenburg and lives in Berlin, traces the aesthetics of natural materials and the processes that modify them. In a sense, the works by Markus Wirthmann put nature off balance. His Aeolian Processes", for example, are minutely prepared experimental set-ups that replicate natural processes, such as sand drifts or waves, albeit with variations or manipulations of decisive features which enable him to produce totally new and optically astonishing results. For example, he straightens normally chaotic air currents and then creates atypical sand patterns that seem irritating to the human eye. Under the generic heading of "Kitchen Sciences", he pours oil, vinegar, broken eggs and other ingredients straight onto the glass of a scanner which, when scanned at high resolution, produce images with a great depth of colour and atmosphere, while at the same time creating an impression of strict composition and organic growth. His "Salt Pictures" follow a similar process of internal logic. After soaking objects for months in a saline solution, natural deposits form on the surface, creating amorphous shapes and colours that look as though they are alive and contrast sharply with the base object.