CLAUS RASMUSSEN "1.618"

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The photos are of a 1970 sculpture “uro” by an unnamed Danish artist which means translated “mobile”. The series were captured in an old hotel in the countryside in Denmark, The series deal with the subject of eternal movement and the process of illustrating the movement through filmic frames. Beneath the symbolic features of the circular movement is a fascination with the perfectionism and the aesthetics of evolution in nature. The frames are displaying the illusion of creating a movement as we automatically interpret meaning into the object and create the story of the mobile spiraling. As spectators to the narrative, evolution and thus reality we can interpret each frame as a moment out of an endless movement. The moment doesn’t exist but because we want to comprehend reality we need to create “still pictures” as communication through concepts, and interpret meaning into the detached movement of the universe. The narrative is thus just creates by ourselves as subjects not by the objects themselves as contemporary art often seeks to. The series also relates to the subject of capturing the essence of other ideas and using them for own purposes. When the artist thus uses another artist work and refers to it in another context it can be seen as an ironical statement towards creation, recycling ideas and referencing other people’s work.

“ Ahorn Frø”

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Transparent paper, glas and wooden frame with lighting ca 25W. Can be attached to European plugs. Edition of 2 (1 AP) 490,- Eur/pcs

The picture lighting frame is a still photo of an installation of acorn seeds dropping from the sky. The artist took real “helicopter” Big-Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum, Aceraceae) seeds and dropped them from the sky in a white room filming the process from below thus creating the illusion of a travel through process of creation. The still photo was chosen as the expression for the process as it invites the onlooker to imagine the process of the spiraling of the seeds and the narrative in the work. The involvement of the spectator deals with the subjects own role in creation – as part of a whole and the experience of this role in reality.

”Opdrift” (”levitation”)

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The photo deals with observation and the nature of illusion and comprehension of facts (as in the language theory and phenomenology as e.g. in the works of Heidegger and Husserl). The observation of a difference makes meaningful communication possible but we can never be sure that we are referring to the same difference. We perceive the photo as perhaps paint running down a wall and speculate of the nature of the paint. Taking a closer look we realize that the picture is of an airplane wing turned to the side. This new way of perception completely removes the preception of a painting and we can speculate over the source of the illusion. Why did we approach the photo as a painting? The viewer is suddenly captured in a thought process of what role perception has. The unreal nature of the photo, the magic composition and the almost floating expression of the color balance is directly opposed the objects meaning (“a wing”) and “opdrift” which translates to “levitation”. Because we perceive the reality through differences, as something “else”, and because we can never come close to it in terms of objectifying it we can only judge through a specific orientation towards the world in one direction. As we levitate on reality the concepts we cling to (“the wing”) slowly melt away as illustrated through the wings antennas looking like drops of paint. The artistic work thus looses meaning as a metaphor for something that can be used to anything we might like to interpret into it. We can hijack any concept and use it for our purpose but it will loose its original “meaning” and this illusion is our communication.

”Asfalt”

(click on the picture for larger view and original)

Looking almost like a watercolour painting the picture is difficult interpretable for the viewer, perhaps of some tyre tracks on asphalt. The underlying themes are our comprehension of concepts, a narrative (tracks). How did these tracks (or strokes) form and why? Why are we interpreting a narrative into the work? The artist chooses ironically to show how art refers to art and the detached forms of conceptions of life that doesn’t carry any meaning but the one we interpret into it.

*Golden Ratio In technical terms

There is one place (and only one place - a unique place) where a line can be divided or "sectioned" so that the ratio of the smaller segment of the sectioned line to the larger segment of the sectioned line is 1:1.618. This ratio of 1:1.618 is called "The Golden Ratio". The interesting and remarkable thing about this sectioning of the line into the golden ratio is that not only is the ratio of the smaller segment or the line to the larger segment of the line equal to 1:1.618. But the ratio of the larger segment of the line to the whole line is also equal to 1:1.618. And this particular division, or sectioning, of a line into segments with a ratio of 1:1.618 is called: "The Golden Section"

The exhibition title refers to esthetics of evolution, the illusion of interpretation and what constitutes perceived beauty.