Vague Classes
Harmony100, Basel
2023
Harmony100, Basel
2023
Michael: …Yeah like cancer… metastasis… and I
wonder with your work if it also would have this
unyielding irrationality or if you would then… like…
and that really comes down to you as an artist and from
what kind of higher-order level – or whatever… would
you ensure the destabilization of the work or would you
just sort of narrow it into a new kind of rationality?
Manuel: That’s a good question. I guess this is where the energy is coming from in my work. That irrationality also prevents me from being able to explain it and keeps me in that uncomfortable state of not knowing if all this makes any sense or not. That’s probably what drives me. I feel very stupid somehow, because I don’t know… So last week this curator came to my studio and he wanted to hear these meaningful sentences and I was just not able to do it. I wanted to tell him: Just look at it! I would sometimes like to be able to explain it but it’s too elusive even for myself. There’s a sort of erotic to not being able to explain.
– Excerpt from a conversation with Michael Ray-Von
Manuel: That’s a good question. I guess this is where the energy is coming from in my work. That irrationality also prevents me from being able to explain it and keeps me in that uncomfortable state of not knowing if all this makes any sense or not. That’s probably what drives me. I feel very stupid somehow, because I don’t know… So last week this curator came to my studio and he wanted to hear these meaningful sentences and I was just not able to do it. I wanted to tell him: Just look at it! I would sometimes like to be able to explain it but it’s too elusive even for myself. There’s a sort of erotic to not being able to explain.
– Excerpt from a conversation with Michael Ray-Von
Untitled, 2022 – 23 / Oil on coated MDF, nails, branches, thread, cloth / Size variable
Untitled, 2022 – 23 / Oil on Plywood, nails, wire, bell, beads / 76 x 31 x 52 cm
Untitled, 2022 – 23 / Parts of a chair, wire, threads and laces, lacquer, epoxy, bells / 83 x 61 x 70 cm
Untitled, 2022 – 23 / Oil on coated MDF, nails, glas, silicone, found materials, water / 36 x 62 x 49 cm
Untitled, 2023 / Bell, thread / Dimensions variable
Untitled, 2023 / Parts of a chair, branches, enamel paint, wire / 65 x 65 x 73 cm
Photos: Raphael Widmer