SMALL WORLDS – MICROCOSMIC VIEWS_VIRTUAL SPAR, St. Petersburg Art Residency

https://virtualresidency.p-10.ru/

In October I started an online Residency at VIRTUAL SPAR, St. Petersburg Art Residency. I’m currently writing a series of essays about my work during 2020.

 

 

0_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_objects 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During pandemic times I came back to one of my original ways of working:

Collecting fragmented objects, objets trouvés, used and useless things in order to transform them into stages for drawings.

The panorama, the diorama and the cabinet of curiosities – models from art history giving a certain view on the world are the basis for the ongoing series of my “dioramas”. These microcosmic stages reflect these concepts showing everyday life scenes creating constellations which go beyond usual ways of perception.

4_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-4 5_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-5 6_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several layers of drawings with cutouts are scaled behind each other, they both give a spatial dimension to the drawing and emphasize the limits within the perspective of the beholder, as they negate a general overview: There are always hidden parts within the work. An interplay of light and shadow caused by the change of daylight brings the scene into motion.

7_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staged in worn out drawers and boxes the material evokes a haptic moment: it recalls the desire of analogue human beings in a digital world to arrange/organize things in proper order. A recurring topic is the individual being shifting between the poles of autonomy and determination.

2_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lockdown times made me first stay at home then stay in the studio. I avoided public transport and went for long walks. I found out that people used their time staying at home to renovate their flats and to get rid of things they did not need anymore, placing them in boxes in front of their homes. A nice habit.

1_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-1 3_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Set-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started to collect things which I could use for artworks: Bowls of glass, pieces of wood, worn-out drawers, fragments of lamps etc. The microcosm and the small individual world gained a new presence within everybody’s life, the concept of inventing microcosmic scenes in form of dioramas and objects regained a new presence within my work.

Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Lilie_40 x 40 cm_Tusche auf Papier, Cutouts, Holz_2020 Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Stereo_50 x 35 cm_Tusche auf Papier, Cutouts, Messing, Holz_2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In June, I had the chance to stay at the “Kunstarkaden Kempten” for a month, an artist-run space with artist in residency studio and an exhibition space. I felt a bit like living in an aquarium as the place was located in a store with wide windows directing to the street. People could see me working from outside. I was quasi moving within my own diorama space creating a series of dioramas. A nice coincidence.

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Letztes_Nina Annabelle Maerkl_Automat_28 x 21 x 15 cm_Tusche auf Papier, Cutouts, objet trouve_Box_2020

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