Samtkasten
Karl Karner's sculptural works from the Samtkasten series oscillate between gestural traces in the working process and relics of forms created by nature itself. ‘Informel meets Nature’. The starting product is wax drawn in water, which is cast in bronze when hardened. The artist's intention and guidance in his work contrast with chance and natural laws in the formation of the form. One is involuntarily reminded of the lead casting rituals on New Year's Eve: amorphous, formal constellations that leave room for all kinds of associations: ghost ships, coral reefs, crystal worlds, fantastically apocalyptic landscapes. Despite its solid state, everything seems to be in motion, in permanent mutation. A primordial soup of life and decay. When viewed up close, the surface transforms into a monstrous karst landscape into which we crawl. Other areas become soft like skin or fold like robes, then broken again by the tips of grapevines, nails or antler remnants. A constant interplay between the bearer of meaning or object and the autonomous material quality of the sculpture comes into effect. Informal traces of the working process as matter versus casts of nature.
Excerpt from the text ‘Informel meets Nature: Karl Karner's current sculptures’ (translation) by Florian Steininger
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