Iva Mladicova
Figurae, Galerie Kabinet T., Zlin
2019
Two metal racks are positioned in the main room of the gallery, (Klimax jun., 2019; Klimax sen., 2019) interacting with each other as horizontal and vertical compositions. These constructions react and communicate with the architectural features of the space. They convey the mechanical possibilities of supporting, unfolding, spreading, stretching and pulling apart. They exist at the threshold between the mechanical and the living. Their expediency is not clearly identifiable, but one registers their human dimensions and proportions. As if you knew them subconsciously, although they don’t primarily appear as functional and their use is not entirely evident. They can be assembled, set in motion, maneuvered, adjusted in height and inclination.
The wall piece Symploke (2019) looks like it was found. Previously functional, it has obtained a certain patina over time. A number of details culminate to indicate the possibility of its expedient handling without actually revealing it. On the front wall, an object made of wooden slats and cords (Laisser-faire, 2012/19) captivates the viewer’s attention due to its lyrical appearance, fragility and inclined position. It has the character of a being, a figure. The wooden slats open in a fan shape. A correspondant formal element is perceived on the wire object lying on the floor (Self-Hypnosis, Vol. II, 2013). The installation of the objects is accompanied by a series of analogue photographic prints mounted on the wall showing black and gray compositions of technical forms on white backgrounds. With specific formal choices, their elements are reminiscent of some of the sculptures on display and are organized in a similar way as the exhibition as a whole. Through their spatial character they evoke the atmosphere of an architectural laboratory. Two fireclay objects (Ellipse, 2018; Kyklos, 2018) correspond with these works, one operates with a composition of geometric volumes, the others shape is reminiscent of a construction component or a section of a floor plan. (...)
The exhibition convinces as a whole. The individual elements seem to be exactly in their places. As if the presentation in itself was a mechanism, of which all parts interlock and form a common, visually coherent whole. The objects stand, lean against, hang, lie, are inconspicuously installed. They demonstrate the inevitability of work processes that are inherently the result of coincidence. In these rooms with minimal figural morphology, the viewer can still feel a human dimension. In the manner of installation, in the potential movement of parts of the objects and in elements asking for their manipulation. The observers move on the border of two conceptual spheres; the elimination and then the recourse of the figural thinking. The objects are not definitive forms and compositions, but movable mechanisms with an unlimited number of possible installations. More or less functional, not functional, indicated, unspoken. Within the impersonal repository of the “White Cube”, a milieu for mental interaction is created. The viewers yearn to move individual elements and to rearrange the ensemble.
An act of conversion, transposition, re-setting was originally also the base of the phenomenon of the “ready-made”. By inserting the found object in the exhibition space, Marcel Duchamp disestablished and questioned the object’s original functionality. Max Leiß, however, reenacts or generates functionality. On first sight, it is not possible to distinguish the found from the created. The elements become independent individuals with their own lives. They communicate non-ostentatiously with each other, and invite the visitors to a mental participance. An intelligent game is established, an unfathomable stream of emotional and mental associations.
(translated from Czech)