Clara Broermann

 

German, 1982

lives and works in Berlin

 

 

CLICK HERE for an artist's statement and price information. (.PDF)

 

>> curatorial text

 

Click on the images to enlarge.

Clara Broermann’s artistic practice is primarily characterised by alternating between making additions and deletions. Layers of paint are applied and repainted or removed in places so that underlying colours or even the bare canvas reappear. This interplay of forms advancing and retreating creates a tangible sense of depth in her work. The process of construction and deconstruction is revealed and becomes an integral part of the final image.

This principle also underlies the ‘Tangram’ series, developed in collaboration with Keystone Editions. In lithography, the successively printed colours are usually printed in order to create a combined, uniform surface. However in these prints the shapes are clearly not printed directly on the paper, but rather were superimposed upon each other. The blue shimmering underneath the yellow and the embossed contours of the layered paper forms cause an exchange of foreground and background, making each progression in the image’s construction visible.

To create this effect, Broermann chose the ‘chine-collé’ technique, by which the image is printed on fine Japanese paper that is then adhered to a thicker sheet by running it through a press. This layering under pressure sets chine-collé apart from collage, where elements are glued together by hand.

For the ‘Tangram’ series, solid areas of blue and yellow were printed, from which geometric shapes were subsequently cut using hand-made stencils. Unlike Broermann’s paintings, whose production process is largely spontaneous, these lithographs follow precise compositions previously defined by the artist. The shapes were layered in place and the final pressing combined the delicate Japanese and the thicker cotton rag papers together.

The title of the series is taken from an ancient Chinese puzzle game. ‘Tangram’ consists of seven geometric shapes which together form a quadrangle. By arranging the pieces together, a wide variety of figures can be constructed. According to the Chinese legend, the game represents the possibility of experiencing the world’s diversity through the different combinations of the quadrangle’s seven parts. Each of the five images in the ‘Tangram’ series consist of repeating blue and orange-yellow forms. However, with the strong contrast of the complementary colours and the interlocking of each separate form, it appears rather as if they were constructed from differently-shaped elements.

Text: Ferial Nadja Karrasch

Translation: Sarah Dudley