Aron Demetz - Advanced Minorities
Foto: Egon Dejori
© Aron Demetz
ARON DEMETY AT ARP MUSEUM
24 July 2014
ROLANDSECK
Press Release
»Aron Demetz. I am«
(22 August 2014 to 11 January 2015)
Following on from the exhibition »Leibhaftig« at Kunstkammer Rau, the South Tyrolean sculptor and Biennale participant Aron Demetz (born in 1972) now presents his mysterious and highly expressive sculptures at Bahnhof Rolandseck, his first museum exhibition in Germany. Life-sized, and combining the filigree with the coarse, they simultaneously leave a disturbing and melancholy impression. The human body and its vulnerability take center stage. A range of materials including wood, bronze and silicon create a plastic physicality. The exhibition at Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck features about 32 works reflecting Aron Demetz’ unique sculpting cosmos. His work already won many admirers at the Venice Biennale in 2009.
The director of Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Dr. Oliver Kornhoff, has this to say about the exhibition: »Working figuratively, Aron Demetz and his works follow wood-carving tradition while creating his own sculptures with his own unique artistic style. The human figure is at the center of his oeuvre – hence, the exhibition fits perfectly into our annual program with its focus on human dimensions. «
Linden, cherry, spruce, poplar, maple or cedar: the artist Aron Demetz uses the most diverse species of wood for his works. The characteristic material aesthetics of the respective tree, with its colors, grains, imperfections and scars, take their place as an important and consciously chosen element of his sculptures. His work involves tools such as chainsaws, chisels and hatchets, which result in rough cuts to the wood.
Nearly all of the artist’s works address the topics of injury, healing and metamorphosis. Prime examples are his group of sculptures »Memoridermata« which was created especially for this exhibition. By means of a computer-aided milling process, Demetz has rough wood fibers grow out of the bodies’ surfaces, at the same time creating extremely fine and smooth parts which tend to the previously injured parts in a “healing” way. Demetz’ works, including his early, colored sculptures – such as the group of figures »Initiation« – are surrounded by a poetic, mysterious aura. The eyes, especially, with their unmistakably powerful expressions, animate the life-size figures. Demetz has also created a large-format bronze work entitled »Heimat«. It will go on permanent display on the banks of the Rhine (at kilometer 635).
The exhibition was curated by Jutta Mattern. The catalog (18 euro; Salon Verlag, Cologne) also includes articles by Jutta Mattern, Dieter Brunner, Otto Jägersberg and Bodo Hell.
About the Artist:
Aron Demetz, born in 1972, lives and works in Gröden, South Tyrol. Having attended the Kunstschule Wolkenstein (1986 – 1993), he studied sculpture under Christian Höpner at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Nuremberg (1997/98). From 2010-2013 he was professor of sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Carrara, Italy. Demetz rose to international prominence with exhibitions in the Italian pavilion at the 53 Venice Biennale and at the MACRO – Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma.