Abstract/Summary

Focused on the physicality of the encounters between different materials, bodies or surfaces, Florian Roithmayr explores some of the practices, gestures and techniques that define sculptural practice. By experimenting and investigating across different procedures and possibilities, Florian Roithmayr is specifically interested in generating and tracing material transformations in the processes of making. Through his work, he aims at registering the consequences of one surface or material yielding another through capturing the unexpected occurrences that characterise artistic production. Such a peculiar approach might be described as a sort of micro-exploration, a journey into those small gestures and events that are often regarded as marginal to the overall process. As such he often engages in an open and organic process in which the remains of a production or the objects conceived in function to it, fold into potential new trajectories. For his first solo show at the gallery, the artist presents a series of new works conceived and produced in relation to the space of the gallery as well as a reconfiguration of his most recent productions. In particular, the exhibition features a series of sculptural pieces emerging from his exploration into processes of moulding and casting, a subject that sits at the very core of Florian’s most recent research-project: “The humility of plaster”. As a matter of fact, these here withins emerges from – and is part of – this long-term trajectory of research culminating in a program of exhibitions, public events that examine and unravel the infrastructure of historical and academic practices defining the tradition of moulding and casting. Such major project – “The humility of plaster” – results from the tight collaboration and partnership among a number of international funding bodies, art organisations and institutions such as The University of Cambridge Museums, The Wysing Art Centre (Bourn), Kettle Yard (Cambridge), HS Projects (London), Elephant Trust, Arts Council England, the Henry Moore Foundation and the Paul Mellon Centre. Through this body of works not only he looks at the widespread application of casting processes beyond the artistic canon, but also at the moulds which make up the very fabric of cast production themselves. While usually regarded as simple tools or templates for reproduction, within Florian’s research these moulds are being studied and questioned in relation to actual sculptural thinking. The artist re-think/re-position the status of these objects, questioning their actual role as key components within an artistic process.