Light and Shadow 2006-07

The series “Light and Shadow” is inspired by the photos of Karl Blossfeldt, a photographer from the 19th century. This work, which for me is a study of nature, forced me to work very differently with metal than I ever had before. I found the process of cutting metal to try to make it look like plant structures very difficult and very different from simply looking at the plants.

The work becomes a form of meditation Another inspiration was the image of a snow-covered world. The feeling of waking up in the morning when everything is covered with snow; all details disappear and you can only imagine what things are under the snow. For me it is a metaphor for time: time goes by and things become covered; sharp structures disappear and you remember only a global story. This was my motivation to use enamel, which I used like snow to cover structures.

Fragment pieces are also about time and the feeling you have when you find a fragment of something, which makes you imagine different stories. I tried to tell different stories with the same fragment. The forest pieces are inspired by the play of light and shadow in the forest. While I started with colours, I wanted to create my personal forest, one for every feeling or mood.

Blue view is about the sea and how it is constantly changing. Whenever you look, you always get a different blue view.

Silvia Walz 2007