Lost Control

source: magnusthierfelder

Magnus Thierfelder keeps it simple, yet he does not simplify. He collects detailed observations that sometimes translate into an art work, and sometimes not – it is a liquid boundary between the two, an attitude that embraces the organic process of transformation. He takes a particular interest in the symbolics of a lamppost or a brick that are not human, but can act as one, as they reanimate the situation they are placed in. He aims at telling a story put together from different angles and with different tempos, like bricks performing a dance in the middle of the street, nails transforming into a menacing cloud, a pair of shoes frozen in a moment of pause and suspense, a pipe leak that turns into a domestic fountain, the magic of a reflection of the sun caught in the palm of one’s hand, and a hanging infinity on a nail on the wall. Living under the rhetorics of efficiency, productivity and the expectation of a constant, unfailing success, Thierfelder’s objects assume a quietly idiosyncratic position of protest and deviation. His sculptures are imbued with a subtle yet undeniable political commentary marking out the position between magic and clarity. Insisting on the knowledge and the experience inherent in the details is like listening to things closely telling us what they know about the world.