Artist statement
What breathes?
(Reflections on the art of Clara S Rueprich by Jan Kuhlbrodt, 2004)
In his late work written in the mid-seventies, Experimentum Mundi, Ernst Bloch describes nature simply as the outside, where there is an enigmatic breathing, with the question „what breathes?“ occupying an impersonal gap. The outside definitely possesses shape. Nature is form without idea, the definite indefinite, in whose forms longing and history sediment.
There is something that this outside, which we are afraid of and that elevates us, when it elevates itself, there is something in nature that gives it anima. The philosopher Bloch finds codes in the cosmos surrounding him, real codes, each possessing a different degree of signification; „most frequently that of the multiple signification of allegory, rarely the almost singular signification of the symbol.“ What breathes? The art of Clara S. Rueprich confronts the observer with precisely these real codes in places where they initially have the appearance of foreign bodies. She creates portals, through which that which we are tempted to call nature can infiltrate.
In so doing, she approaches her materials with respect, almost with religious awe, as though it were art, which had to serve them and not vice versa, creating artificial spaces, bestowing an aura upon the objects. Surfaces are not processed to the point of being unrecognisable, they retain the signature of their origins, they are not put on show as receptors for arbitrary projections, each develops its own beauty. What breathes?
The surfaces on which the images in „connected“ (2001) appear are a medium of disappearance. Although the projections approach one another with the melting of the block of ice, in the moment they converge they will be gone.
The technique of video comes to fruition when the idea of reality relinquishes its condition: the surface of projection. The thought that is enflamed upon contact with the image undergoes the direct limitation of its temporality and thus experiences itself as utopia.
In Bloch’s terms, codes such as ocean, plants, hands, a bare female torso, occur in Clara S. Rueprich's art rather as allegory than as symbol. What is meant can’t be reduced to a singular signification. What breathes? In the selection of images, media and materials Clara S. Rueprich demonstrates that she is absolutely contemporary. With mastery, she makes use of the technical means of the present day, valorising them by combining them with nature or historical architecture. The observer’s well-honed ability to recognise the foreign, unearthed from the dark outside, loses its certainty, becomes deconditioned. What breathes?
Nature appears in the city generally as a projection, with the public space as the surface of this projection. But nature is in urban environments also a reminder, and remembering is given only to those with the knowledge of the deficiencies of the present and who secure their past. Anything else would be sentimentality. This knowledge enables Clara S. Rueprich to work with both emphatic and archaic images. An Oenothera (evening primrose) blossom, unfolding slowly and yet unusually quickly in real time, before closing again, and combining, in the eyes of the observer and in changing perspectives, with a female sex. These images radiate earnest silence, far from today’s usual ironic doubling.
The seriousness of her handling of material permits Clara S. Rueprich’s works to extend beyond the temporal. The play with time acquires a surface, especially in the works in public spaces. In the here and now, past becomes visible as present, optimistically indicating future possibility. Vegetation periods. Cycles. Return.
Qualifications and training
- 2006 MA Fine Arts, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
- 2004 Master class, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig/Germany
- 2002 Master class (corresponds to MA), Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg/Germany
- 2001 Postgraduate Diploma Art and public space, Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg
- 1997 Dipl. Ing. Landscapearchitecture, University, Dresden/Germany
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 "Attempts on a still life", Kunstverein Linz, Linz (more info)
- 2010 "Waiting for Napoleon" Clara S Rueprich, Josh Lilley Gallery, London (more info)
- 2003 Bavarian State Award - Exhibition, Kunsthaus, Nuremberg (catalogue)
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Video screening, Gallery Januar, Bochum/Germany
- 2011 Last Friday Shorts - video art event, TAP, Old Waterworks Building, Southend on Sea
- 2011 The Animal Gaze, Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield (more info)
- 2010 Gifted, Josh Lilley Gallery, London (more info)
- 2010 condition M, at “Souvenirs from Earth”, (Video-Art-TV-channel)
- 2009 Modern nature, K3 Zürich, Zürich/ Switzerland
- 2009 Video-Art-Award of Marl, Gallery KOBRO + Gallery BLOK, Łodz/Poland
- 2009 The Animal Gaze, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth/UK
- 2009 Marler Video-Kunst-Preis, ZKMax (ZKM Karlsruhe), München/Germany
- 2008 The Animal Gaze, Unit 2 Gallery, London (catalogue)
- 2008 Screening, Kino im Sprengel, Hannover/Germany
- 2008 Workflow, DASA Ex-Center, Dortmund/Germany
- 2008 Fullscreen, MedienKunstForum, Hannover/Germany
- 2008 Video-Art-Award Exhibition, Skulpturenmuseum, Marl/Germany (catalogue)
- 2007 Animal, Red Gate Gallery, London
- 2007 Sexwork: Kunst Mythos Realität, Neue Gesellschaft fuer Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin (catalogue)
- 2007 FORM, Art fair, London
- 2006 ...there's no place like home, Homestead Gallery, London
- 2006 Saudade, Highbury Studios, London
- 2006 Air Video, AiR Space Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent/UK
- 2006 Wildwuchs, Jahresausstellung, Leipzig/Germany (catalogue)
- 2006 Transmission, Triangle Space, London
- 2006 Final Show, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (catalogue)
- 2006 Kaufrausch, Theater der Jungen Welt, Leipzig/Germany
- 2005 Bilder Formen Bewußtsein, Symposium Kunstmuseum Bonn
- 2005 Kunst, Heuport, Regensburg/Germany
- 2004 Ein Stueck Schnee verteidigen, Kunsthaus, Nuremberg/Germany
- 2004 Ich moechte jetzt schliessen, UT Connewitz, Leipzig
- 2003 RAUS, Nuerbanum, Nuremberg
- 2002 Anlagenstillstand, Museumswinkel, Erlangen/Germany
- 2002 Bilder aus dem Koerperhaus, AdBK, Nuremberg
- 2002 Grosse Kunstausstellung Sachsen-Anhalt, Villa Kobe, Halle/Germany (catalogue)
- 2002 Erlangen-Parcours, city-lab, Erlangen/Germany
- 2001 Hand und Fuss, Gallery Zumikon, Nuremberg
- 2001 Blaue Nacht, Nuernberger Akademie, Nuremberg
- 2001 Hand und Fuss, Grafschaftsmuseum, Wertheim/Germany
- 2000 bok o bok, Gallery Kohlenhof, Nuremberg
- 2000 Erlangen-Parcours - Art projects for Erlangen, Town Hall, Erlangen/Germany
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2008 Award (Sonderpreis), Video-Kunst-Preis (Video-Art-Award), Marl/Germany
- 2006 Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service
- 2003 Bavarian State Award for young artists, Ministery of Science, Research and Art, Munich
- 2003 Catalogue, Vice-Versa-Verlag, Berlin
- 2003 Scholarship of the Bavarian Ministry of Science, Resarch and Art
- 2003 Selection of the project 'cherry orchard' for execution, art competition 'Pfeiferplatz', Nuremberg
- 2002 Selection of the project 'growth zone' for execution, art competition 'Infrastruk-Tour', Roth
- 2000 1. Prize, Competition of the new Exhibition Hall, AdBK, Nuremberg
- 2000 Award of the IHK, Kulturstiftung, Nuremberg
- 2000 Award of the art class, Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg
- 2000 Scholarship, Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung, Berlin
- 1999 1. Prize, art competition for the 'Orthopaedie- und Rehazentrum', Cottbus/Germany
- 1999 Lausanne Jardins 2000, invitation and participation in the competition, Lausanne/Switzerland
- 1999 Award of the art class, Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg
Web links - gallery/work/projects
Web links - article/press
