The Woodcuts of Anselm Kiefer - Albertina Curator Antonia Hoerschelmann

Like an alchemist, the artist processes the dark matter as if it sprang up from the bowels of the earth. The pictures are composed like sedimentations, layers of efforts and of sketches, of blotches, gestures and drawn structures, with manifold materials, like wood, cardboard, paper, even text fragments and words.
The 35 woodcarvings, chosen by curator Antonia Hoerschelmann and Anselm Kiefer for the current exhibition at Museum Albertina, are not arranged in chronological but in thematic order. As often with Anselm Kiefer, their topics were inspired by the imagery of German history, and the formats are of impressive dimensions, each measuring a couple of metres in height and width.

Kiefer’s woodcarvings combine expressionisms’ intuitive energy with a contemplative component that invites to reflection and meditation. These elements seem to be related to the alchemistic transformation processes that were the artist’s interest during his entire career. (written by Cem Angeli)

https://www.albertina.at/

Interviewee: Antonia Hoerschelmann
Artworks by: Anselm Kiefer

Copyright info: The audio and video recording has been made with personal permission of the artist.
Licensing: 0
Language(s): German, English
Subtitles: German, English
Producer: KA21 GmbH / CastYourArt
Production crew: Wolfgang Haas, Helmut Feier, Roman Pachernegg
Production country: Austria, Vienna