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Olaf Holzapfel
View through glass, 2019
Frottage, pastel chalk on Japanese paper
96 x 61 cm
eight unique pieces
Ever since his outstanding contribution to the last documenta in Kassel and Athens, titled Zaun [translates to “fence”], Olaf Holzapfel has become one of the most noted artists of his generation.
Born in Dresden, Olaf Holzapfel (*1967, lives in Berlin) grew up in a country that no longer exists; today, his work focuses on space and the constitutive conditions thereof: boundaries, areas, skins, the in between. The interplay between images and space determines his work, which he demonstrates with superior ease in his sculptures, installations, photographs and videos. Here, Holzapfel creates a connection between “pure” art and contextual and/or political relevance, often with surprising results.
Olaf Holzapfel’s concept of the fence not only incorporates experiences of his own childhood and youth but also impressions gathered during the artist’s travels around the world. Urban spaces, such as the megacities New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, and the unspoilt nature of Middle and Eastern Europe and South America all left their mark on Holzapfel’s understanding of the exterior and the interior, which define and permeate architecture and geography just as much as psychology and politics. Here, straw and wood are two materials that play a special role and are used as roofs, mats and walls (straw) and half-timbering, roofs and fences (wood). Both materials are reflected in the colourful shadings within A Glimpse through Glass [Blick durch Glas], a series of unique objects created exclusively for Provinz.
