Dimensions: image: 295 x 210 mm
Copyright: © Helmut Federle | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have an untitled print by Helmut Federle. It’s a powerful composition in black and white that reminds me of ruins or some kind of brutalist architecture. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a palimpsest, a surface that bears traces of previous inscriptions, erasures, and rewritings. The stark monochrome enhances this sense of layers, of history being built and then effaced. Do you feel a sense of depth, beyond the immediate surface? Editor: Yes, the textures and varying densities create a kind of illusion. It's almost sculptural. What's the significance of leaving the work untitled? Curator: The absence of a title invites us to project our own meanings and memories onto the image. It becomes a mirror reflecting our internal landscape. The symbols shift, the cultural memory we bring becomes the subject. Editor: That's fascinating. I’ll definitely consider that next time I view an abstract work. Curator: Precisely. It's a reminder that art is not just about what the artist intended, but also about what the viewer brings to the experience.
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Blue Sisters, Structures of Deviance is a portfolio of ten prints executed in blue ink on white paper. Five are photogravures depicting trees. The other five are soft ground etching and aquatint on paper; these images are abstract and have a smaller plate size than the photogravures. The prints were produced at Druckatelier Kurt Zein in Vienna, where the artist lives and works. They were published in an edition of thirty-five with ten artist’s and publisher’s proofs; Tate owns number eleven in the edition.
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