Kitty Kraus
Untitled
Composed of two rectilinear pieces of glass, this work by Kitty Kraus is part of a series of sculptures started in 2006. These transparent assemblages are in contact with the walls and floor of the exhibition space. The sculptures of this series are the same dimensions with different combinations. A large glass plaque associated with a smaller one recurs to suggest the proportions of a human body. The glass plaques are joined simply with adhesive tape. The gaze must distinguish these in space, bodies need to work around them. The work plays on the tension between elements that are controlled (dimensions, balance) and those that are uncontrollable. These minimalist, transparent and perfect forms are nevertheless sharp enough to endanger the skin surface. The works in this series recall the large steel plaques by Richard Serra if only because they entirely integrate the possible collapse of the form.
Kitty Krauss has a very particular outlook on Minimal and Constructivist Art. She reinterprets certain historical forms by highlighting their sensitive dimension. She uses glass, ice, light, mirrors in works that toy with the tension between formal perfection and extreme fragility. References can be found to sculptures by Richard Serra but also by Joseph Beuys or Dan Flavin. She questions the Modernist myths, the aesthetic preconceptions of the art of the 1960s. The materials she uses are intentionally chosen to evoke the fragility and impermanence of things.
Kitty Krauss was born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1976. She lives and works in Berlin.