Five Forms (gently and imperishably)

Hannah Eckstein

... Along the river trees are letting go scarcely and silently wisps, parcels of incense, which drop floatingly through a vista of talking moving people; timidly which caress hats and shoulders, wrists and dresses; which unspeakingly alight upon the laughter of men and children, girls and soldiers. In twilight these ridiculous and exquisite things descendingly move among the people, gently and imperishably ...

E.E. Cummings, »The Rain is a handsome Animal«

In these lines of E.E. Cummings’ poem THE RAIN IS A HANDSOME ANIMAL, eponymous for both the exhibition and the works presented in it, certain constants within Madeleine Boschan’s oeuvre manifest themselves. On the one hand poetry, which consistently is an important point of reference for the artist, on the other hand and as described by Cummings the atmospheric space of people gathering and interacting with each another.

Similar to a poem Boschan’s sculptures and installations give rise to an atmospheric space, which affects moods as well as sentiments and thus triggers a reciprocity between the works and the beholders. In the past years Madeleine Boschan has created a range of portals, which due to their minimalistic-concrete forms, resemble architectonic elements. At times produced in small formats – as kind of models – at times made in monumental sizes, they form both imaginary as well as real spaces for possible human gatherings and interactions.

Based on these portals the artist has developed the Five forms (gently and imperishably) I–V which originated from the void spaces – the openings and transits – of the portals. The wall pieces can be seen within a longer development, in which the formal language of Boschan’s sculptures, stemming from the abstract and linear, have progressively become concrete and planar over time.

With her new works she has created five geometric, monochrome aluminium-pieces in light-blue (RAL 5012) and pure-white (RAL 9010). Their quadrangular shapes shift between symmetry and asymmetry. Due to their installation, a few centimeters away from the wall, and the resulting shadows, the intrinsically two-dimensional objects gain plasticity. As if Boschan, in the tradition of Blinky Palermo and Günther Förg, was reflecting upon the pictorialness of her objects respectively upon the objecthood of her pictures.

To some degree, this certainly holds true. Still, her Five forms (gently and imperishably) I–V possess yet another dimension. Even if they have been formed from the negative spaces of the portals, they confront the beholder roaming in the exhibition literally as planar and positive shapes. Space itself becomes an object and at the same time conveys its own potential pictorialness to the beholder.

Just like the works, the whole setting of the Copenhagen exhibition is constituted by symmetrical and asymmetrical architectural elements. The Five forms (gently and imperishably) I–V react to the spatial symmetries and asymmetries with an inversion of the respective dominating ratios. Through this interplay of space and form an area of tension is created. The interaction of symmetry and asymmetry dislocates the human dimension as individual spatial sensation and pushes it out of balance. Accordingly, in order to regain one’s own stance and position, the beholder is forced to realign him- or herself with the surrounding space.

Simultaneously, the particular colors of the pieces – light-blue and pure-white – establish a relation towards the ›clean‹ environment of the gallery as well as towards the open and opaque spaces of the portals. Like a white ground or a digital blue box, in which everything conceivable can be simulated, their pure chromaticity turns them into planes of projection for events and experiences, thereby transforming anything negative into its positive counterpart.

photos: Kim Holtermand