Galleries

It is not surprising that Gehard Demetz' enigmatic child figures appear in a time marked by complex anthropological changes and developments. His central theme is man, or better, the image of man in our time, and here particularly the portrayal of children and adolescents in puberty, which is mysterious for many reasons. Demetz cuts the child figures from wood or synthetic material. Their bodies are fragmented figurative shells that express a high degree of self-questioning, scepticism, incertitude, vulnerability, ambiguity and vicissitude. At the same time they come across as hard, hermetically sealed and self-protective portraits of humans, which radiate a distanced coolness. These sensitive or wounded creatures refer us to another side of life – to a world, which broaches on an endless continuity of adult neglect as well as the children’s quest for a better understanding. Demetz child sculptures also reveal a world beyond that of established sculpture, by questioning contemporary family structures and pointing out the individual fate of children and youths as a central aspect of his artistic focus”…“ (excerpt from the catalog)

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