HBL Creative Direction: Xujing by Roland Geissel at Art Labor Gallery, Shanghai

Friday 15 October 2010

Xujing, Art Labor Gallery, Shanghai, China

On a recent trip to China, WGSN's editor of Macro Trends Cher Potter came across the work of German artist Roland Geissel at the Art Labor Gallery in Shanghai. Geissel has been creating and documenting site specific Spatial Drawings since 2000. These room paintings are projections of the interior space of an earlier series of work; a colleciton of solid objects collectivley called The Melusines.

Melusine, Oilpaint and wax on wood

Lying somewhere between the mediums of painting and sculpture, The Melusines are solid wooden blocks bound by six parallelograms. The wooden body is not entirely visible as it is coated with a thick, smooth layer of wax, partly over-painted with oil paint.

Xujing, Art Labor Gallery, Shanghai, China

The spatial drawings or 'roompaintings' have been created in galleries across the world and communicate the interior space of a particular Melusine. Johannes Kögler explains on Geissel's website "The Spatial Drawings assimilate the viewer more powerfully than many pieces of art, even larger format works; although they stand in opposition to the viewer; they also surround us from all sides, taking us right inside them."

Melusine, oil paint and wax on wood
As the works have so far been temporary, Geissel records them through photogtraphs taken on 5 x 4" film, using a large format camera.The photographs complete the artistic process, as they become works of art in their own right.

Villa Helena , Collection Alberto Di Stefano, Prague

www.rolandgeissel.de