Jason McCoy Gallery is pleased to present the second New York solo exhibition of the German artist Christiane Löhr. The show will feature a selection of sculptures, new works on paper, as well as site-specific installation.
Based in Germany and Italy, Christiane Löhr works with organic materials. Her sculptures transform ivy seeds, plant stalks, tree blossoms, and horsehair, for example, into elaborate geometric constructs. Instead of manipulating these ingredients with foreign materials such as paint or glue, Löhr’s practice is based on the pure act of “ordering”. She carefully evaluates her materials; she studies their overall structure and physical characteristics, assesses their resistance and elasticity. By organizing single elements into intimately scaled volumetric forms, Löhr derives at a unified entity that exudes both harmony and tranquility. Löhr’s sculptures encourage focused observation. When studied up close, they pay homage to the wealth and delicacy of detail found in nature. In that sense, Löhr provides a pedestal for the often overlooked and yet omni-present remnants of environmental organisms.
Carefully installed, these objects of nature further engage in a dialogue with architecture. Seen outside their natural context and carefully installed in manmade spaces, they gain an iconic presence and clarity. Though Löhr’s oeuvre shares aesthetic qualities with Minimalism and the Arte Povera movement, her exclusive focus on nature makes for a rather unique stance. “My sculptures all share something”, she explains.
“This might be defined as a whole, which is made up of a number of individual elements that suddenly seem inseparable. I have the sense that the work process itself is strict, each work has its own logic and follows a vision of clear gesture and form that comes from within.” In addition, Löhr’s works on paper expand on the exploration of light. Whereas the sculptures are meticulous and precise, these works embrace a gestural quality a sense of spontaneity. Abstract, yet reminiscent of plant structures, these are rendered in a strictly black and white or grey and white palette. They are concentrated analyses of the interplay between translucency and opacity, biomorphic form and geometric rhythm. For the past year, Löhr has focused on increasing the size of her works on paper. This exhibition will feature a selection of new examples.
Christiane Löhr was born in Wiesbaden in 1965. She has exhibited extensively in Europe and Asia, including at the 49th Biennale di Venezia. Her solo exhibition at the Villa Panza in Varese, Italy, in 2010, was the last exhibition conceived by the acclaimed collector Giuseppe Panza. Christiane Löhr lives and works in Cologne and Prato, Italy.