Poetry and Archaism

The Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota (*1972) is known for her expansive thread installations. For her first solo exhibition "Eye to Eye" in German-speaking Switzerland, she has developed an installation of this kind: Viewers are immersed in a sea of vertically hanging red ropes to which countless corrective and sunglasses are attached. Shiota often uses found objects because, according to her, they establish a direct connection to their former owners. Such used objects can be knotted together, as in the room-encompassing installation, or wrapped in dense thread structures, as in the two works "State of Being". The red threads can also be found in her two-dimensional works: in the drawings "Connected to the Universe", the artist connects small figures with organic colour formations through incorporated red threads. She sees the linked threads as a symbol for complex interpersonal relationships. In some Asian cultures, there is also the belief that soul mates are connected by a red thread.

While Shiota's work is characterised by filigree, organic and net-like forms, the oeuvre of Salvatore Emblema (1929-2006) is characterised by rough textures and monochrome colour surfaces. Under the title "Sub-limine", Museum Haus Konstruktiv is dedicating the first Swiss retrospective to the Italian artist. Although his artistic work cannot be assigned to any particular style, clear references to Minimal Art or Arte Povera are recognisable. Emblema uses natural materials such as chestnut twigs or untreated lapillus. He usually paints his canvases with specially composed earth pigments made of volcanic ash, petrified lava and metal oxides. The resulting relief-like surfaces are enhanced by the use of jute as a painting ground. At first, he painted on jute because of a lack of money, but he was soon fascinated by the coarsely woven, translucent structure. Thus his work is always characterised by a certain tactility. References to artists are also apparent; his encounter with Mark Rothko had a lasting influence on him. Similar to Rothko's colour field paintings, Emblemas' monochrome colour surfaces invite us to linger and meditate.