For the classically trained sculptor Monika Grzymala, the drawing is the focus of her artistic interest. Whether sculpture, mural, or installation, her work up to now has been permeated by an outstanding, subtle feel for the line’s potential as a tool for visual articulation, and for the tangible qualities of the materials used, whether it is handmade paper or industrial adhesive tape. Grzymala is internationally known for her three-dimensional installations, but the strongly scaled-down format of the edition allows her to transmit her “visual news” to the living room. For the Edition Gerd Hatje the artist has challenged herself, and not without (once again) making any special demand on the materials she uses. This is the first time she has worked with a porcelain composite, which is subjected to a special process that makes it appear to be stone white; she then creates small reliefs with the material. These delicate original works of art—“tangible drawings” can be set up or laid out—the perfect small original for your home.In an allusion to the traditional Japanese method of repairing porcelain, kintsugi, Grzymala has imprinted a “spatial drawing” made of wire on the porcelain surface. The lines and surfaces thus created are filled with brilliant synthetic resin colored with white pigment. The elaborate process, which involves repeated firings, has created a multi-dimensional, haptic work of art: a white-on-white landscape that conveys an intense play of shadows between the matte porcelain and the reflective lines and convex surfaces. A particular reading is, by the way, not expected; on the contrary, the viewer is challenged to discover “his own” landscape in the fragile piece.
