By Susanne Kraisser
Located in Hamburg, DE
"At the Water" is a larger free-standing bronze sculpture, suitable both for the inside and outside. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. Certificate.
The sculptress Susanne Kraisser is to be considered as part of the great modern figurative tradition. She was born in 1977 in Rosenheim, Southern Germany. She studied both at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg and the University of Arts in Bremen. She graduated with distinction in 2007 in Nuremberg and received her Diploma with distinction in 2008 in Bremen. She has won numerous awards and exhibits nationally as well as internationally.
Artist Statement: For me, sculpture is particularly shape and material, volume and size, space, movement and statics.
I focus on the ‘female body’, presenting it either as an intimate miniature or on a monumental scale – each time as a solitary figure.
In terms of content, my work focuses on identifying and combining polarities, such as instability and strength, fragility and solidity, activity and passivity, movement and statics, balance and volume, and dependence and autarchy.
I work predominantly with the materials bronze, aluminium and wood. The small miniatures are made from wax and are then cast in bronze as part of what is known as the wax smelting process. Large-scale pieces are similarly cast in aluminium or created directly out of wood. The various work processes and tools determine the appearance of the surface; for wax, it’s my hands, and for wood, it’s my chainsaw.
Each material is a new challenge for me. My previous wood-sculpting studies involved respecting the material’s limits to create craft of solid quality in keeping with the material.
But this is where the intense discussion and its limit become clear. I fight with the material, and a lot of things go wrong. It becomes my opponent, whose limits I test out and reset if necessary. Cautious movements requiring a lot of physical tension are maintained without losing their inner dynamics.
Amidst the often harmonious external form is a harsh dissonance evidenced by the rough, fragmented design...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Hamburg - Art
