Olaf Holzapfel

About this book

The countryside surrounds the city; it is its shell, mirror, source, its other. Rural activity is not secondary or pre-modern, but of equal consequence to what we regard as contemporary, primarily the urban centers. After a decade of focussing on virtual space and its connectedness to the public domain, Olaf Holzapfel (b. Görlitz, 1969; lives and works in Berlin and Dresden) addresses the connection between technology and nature. His works explore the transformation of material into technology, which originally begins in the rural, the agrarian. In his series of new timber-framed sculptures, Olaf Holzapfel describes space using a linear model that is dynamic and up-to-date. Timber framework is adaptable; it can be redesigned and reconfigured. This publication presents a group of sculptural constructions of wood that investigate the formal vocabulary of timer framework. The artist juxtaposes these wooden sculptures with a row of figures made from braided hay. The artifacts, fashioned using traditional methods, refer to the motif of rural life and to abstract patterns in traditional attire. The works embody a unique form of minimalism. Furthermore, both work groups enter into a contemporary dialogue with other artists from the region around Dresden who reacted to circumstances in their time: the landscape painter Eduard Leonhardi, the photography pioneer Hermann Krone, the constructivist Hermann Glöckner, and Curt Querner, an early proponent of New Objectivity.