Wolf von Waldow – Die Hand vor Augen

Exhibition Neuer Kunstverein Wuppertal 11.01.2019-17.02.2019

Beleuchtung: Dietmar Koether – Lupolux
Fotos: Sigurd Steinprinz

Neuer Kunstverein Wuppertal
Hofaue 51, 42103 Wuppertal

"The hand in front of your eyes" ... the experience that immediately springs to mind is disoriented to fumble in the dark and not even recognize the obvious, namely the own hand that you hold in front of your face for reassurance. It is this kind of seemingly simple symbols, gestures and experiences that Wolf von Waldow uses as raw material to condense them into complex pictorial inventions. Initially, his monochrome black laser silhouettes made of steel convey the convincing impression of clarity and motif reduction. Only at second glance does one recognize their semantic overdetermination.

Wolf von Waldow combines the reduced sign language of Functionalist Modernism with the world of commercial logos, with pictograms, but also with historical forms of representation such as allegory, emblem or the silhouette that is so popular in Romanticism. This creates sensitive and ambiguous symbols for our time characterized by information overload, commodity fetishism and search for meaning. In his new works, he transmits this clever interplay of meaning, which he first developed as part of his wallpaper works, into the room. As a kind of two-dimensional sculptures, they thus gain a further level of experience.

In the poetic pictograms of the series "Narrativ" Wolf von Waldow reflects fragments of the controversial narratives of our time: home and migration, the environment and the individual, commerce and the search for meaning. Although the individual parts of the work "Masterplan", which is currently being created for the exhibition at the Neuen Kunstverein, are reminiscent of traffic signs, they offer no concrete options for action. They are more of a stop-off that invites you to explore and think for themselves - and to take a few steps together in the dark.

Christian Weller, 2019