A Crown a Day, or The Heavy Burden of the Pom-pom
Matthias Harder
different way of sticking in our minds than something familiar; it is imprinted
onto our subconscious and is then constantly processed and reworked. One
example of this is a given aspect of a foreign culture that has an emotional
effect on us. Visual impressions tend to surface through a work of art, and through
her layered, maze-like paper objects, Sati Zech manages to make sense of a
flood of mental images that have been circulating in her mind for years. During
her regular trips to Africa she discovered hairstyles that would probably
astound the westernized observer: immense, almost architectural formations,
secured with blood, urine or mud. These hairstyles are based on ritual
traditions that date back hundreds if not thousands of years, with different
regional variations.
Head
pictures, black
Hair is generally considered a symbol of vitality and
strength, as personified by the biblical figure of Samson. In many regions and
religions, cutting the hair is considered a symbolic act of foregoing civic
freedoms, mourning or a transition from one phase of life to another as part of
an initiation ritual.
In her new images Sati Zech is not interested in the
materials of hair or hairstyles as an ordinary, stylish form of adornment or as
a cultural asset. Instead, she is concerned with how the hair is worn and the
forms that result. When hair is piled up on top of the head it looks like a
crown, whether worn by indigenous tribes and their modern descendents, or in
western civilizations with its top hats— Bavarian headdresses and the stacked
hairstyles in the trends of contemporary youth. Crowns decorated with precious stones and hats, symbols of
secular or sacred power, traditionally signify that the wearer holds an
elevated position and is associated with a higher authority.
For Sati Zech the crowns go beyond decoration and
indications of status and function as symbols of weightiness, “the heavy
head.” According to the artist,
everyone deserves to wear a crown, but when one is not as successful as usual, one
begins to feel the pressure, the weight of one’s own head – all the worries,
nightmares, ulcers and tumors. In the artist’s pictorial language these
generally appear as two amorphous black shapes that are joined together like
Siamese twins. Their relationship is charged with tension, since one shape
seems to be crushing the other. Sometimes the head and the crown grow together
and become interchangeable; the crown is covered with many different-sized
pom-poms, large and small. The burden becomes something playful and joyous and
vice versa.
In her most recent head pictures, it is more difficult to
discern what is actually depicted or reproduced due to the extreme abstraction
of the shapes down to their most simple forms. The crown is always a static
abstract shape that rests on something or sits on the floor with a kind of
spewing vessel.
One new picture, called The Vendor’s Tray
style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana’> (Der Bauchladen), is an almost
mimetic recreation of an experience. The black silhouette of a standing figure
is clearly recognizable, and both the straps and round objects are part of the
vendor tray in the title. The interwoven internal and external structures of
the composition create a chaotic system that eventually becomes an encumbrance.
Here, a simple observation (or a motif borrowed from an art historical book) is
used as the point of departure for a painterly abstraction. The cryptic nature
of the scene lends it a timeless quality. By concentrating on one object, i.e.
one form, the artist takes the meaning of the original source and expands it
into a statement with universal scope.
Pom-pom Pictures, red
In Zech’s so-called pom-pom pictures, with their typical
orange-red colors schemes on layered strips of canvas, we are confronted with
bright, round forms and with a kind of sensuality that immediately appeals to
some and while requiring a period of adjustment from others. The rhythm of the
pom-poms corresponds approximately to a musical composition. Their playfulness
and scattered placement formally counterbalances the block-like heaviness of
the black heads and crowns.
Along with her interest in deformations and formal
anomalies, Sati Zech also works en passant with color as a physical presence and a form-giving
material, primarily for structures such as surfaces. Here, the pictures are not
impasto in terms of color application, but in terms of the layering of
materials. With her pictures, she stops when the forms are no longer on the
verge, as she calls it – that is, when internal and external tensions have been
fine-tuned, without being weakened.
The result is a quirky, metaphysical effect that is more than a specific
representation or traditional color symbolism, an off-hand harmony.
Zech’s work is concentrated around series of images in
different formats that have a systematic but also open quality. No series is
ever fully complete; the individual images of a series are sometimes created in
parallel as variations on a theme. The formats differ in size and dimension.
Sometimes the way edges of the pictures are cut at an angle, tattered or torn,
acts as a negation of geometry. Her timeless works describe specific details of
a universal event. There is a certain resolution in their composition, and they
seldom try to extend beyond the edges of the image. Instead, each work has a center – at least in her head
pictures series – or better said, a formal concentration in the center of the
composition.
Archaic Forms
Sati Zech takes up the much-heralded liberation of the
object from color and form and continuously reworks this concept through her
own approaches. She presents us with a highly individual repertoire of colors
and forms. By employing a consistent strategy in her compositions, she develops
an intimate knowledge of the geometric, figuratively conceived prop-like works,
which develop into complex formations over the course of their lengthy process
of creation. Here, she walks the fine line between representation and
abstraction. During the extended painting procedure, she functions both as
producer and viewer. The results are dense images with haptic surfaces and
carefully arranged painterly forms in muted colors.
Sometimes Sati Zech’s titles create a range of
associations; often her abstractions are puzzling and abstruse. One has to look
at her pictures closely – visually feeling the way along the delicate surfaces
of the image and its materials. Here abstract canvases and works on paper tell
little cryptic stories, which we simply have to learn to read. At the same
time, they serve as a poetic backdrop for one’s own imagination.
Sati Zech’s longstanding projects – the “top-heavy” crowns
and the light pom-poms – are immediate and independent. She plays with archaic
gestures and dramatic color contrasts in her fascinating constructions, which
also make room for soft, subtle intermediate tones despite their visual
tension. Sati Zech formally investigates all facets of the subjects she selects
– analyzing them and reduces them to their essence.
