Critic from Lionel Chiuch, journalist at the Tribune de Genève
If the world seems empty and hard to accept, there is one thing that we must do: impose our own scale of values upon it. Martin Engler, mastering a wide range of different techniques, gives the world a dimension of its own. Since the world is not a totality whose outlines can easily be defined, his works simply transcend this diversity. Thus, it would be futile to try and define such diversity and so more easily reduce it. The stakes are high, since the issue is no less than artistic coherence, with the opportunism this often involves. The artist responds with all the vitality of his undeniable talent. Any career that follows an ideal course is bound to end in boredom. If you have anywhere to go, why try to get there by the shortest possible route? Like the nomad he is, Martin takes time for contemplation. It is here and now that the most important things happen.
Lionel Chiuch
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Inaugural tribute to Martin Engler's artshow at Deutsche Bank 24,
Freiburg im Breisgau
21 June 2001
(translation of the German version - click here to go to the original text)
Inaugural tribute to Martin Engler’s art show at Deutsche Bank
Freiburg –in- Breigsau
June 21, 2001
“Art removes the daily dust from the soul “ (Picasso)
We find exactly where it rarely occurs us to look at.
After my first visit to this show, I thought about how to pay tribute to the artist and do justice to the quality of his work. What came to my mind were not thoughts but objects, images of objects or, more precisely, objects as images.
Then I recalled a game which can be played by young and older people to spend the time during long walks or rainy weekends : the aim is to pack an imaginary bag before a trip. Each player packs something, then passes the imaginary bag to his neighbour, who adds something and passes it to the next player ,and so on. The bag gradually fills up, first with essentials, then with more specific things, and the winner is the player who can remember everything which has been packed. The content looks like a jumble of curiosities which, apart from toothbrushes, pullovers, etc., reflects not only practical realities but the dreams and wishes we nurture before and after any trip.
What is the motivation of the modern gipsy traveller Martin Engler ? What does he bring in his plexiglas suitcases ? What is my first perception of these potential luggage ? What comes up first is barbed wire, an old pair of worker’s shoes, a rifle, chessmen, weapons, slaves’ chains, music notes, musical instruments, the ocean immensity, invoices, receipts, bells, all kind of watches- with or without hands- electronic components made in Singapore, an accordion, memories and collector’s items.
These objects are not put together in a formless mass but organized by themes, in an unconstrained way so that each element allows enough space for my own fantasy to play with then I can embark on my own journey with memories, colors and sounds which compose my own reality.
Only an occasional sign reminds us that a painter is talking to us : oils on canvas over a conventional stretcher or color brushstrokes directly applied on the transparent medium.
The next feeling I get looking at these works of art is curiosity about the very creation of the work of art written small and how the craftsman connects to art. I am then tempted to touch the objects in order to feel, to find out what kind of particular force link them to the plexiglas structure, actual medium of the work itself. Did the artist melt down rigid sheets, form them and then expel the air ( remember how scared we were at school when we experimented an airless space in our physics courses ) and did he fix the objects which consequently become instantly captive ?
As usual, images come to our mind and we think of the very first works of art, the painted caves and the paintings on rocks or the Indians’pictures stories. In the past, the artists presumably wanted to fix these images of animals and objects, the material world, in order to give themselves a sense of security.
As modern as the medium of these objects is, on the opposite their roots go far back into the past. The link to the music we listen to tonight is likewise an ancestral tradition.
It seems to me that the creation of the work of art generates the metaphor of force. When you look closer at these works of art and penetrate into them, you notice that the way the objects are displayed is generating a great force, a powerful energy which links them together, bursts the frames apart, distorts the accordion and scatters the glass’s content into the Ocean.I then start to think that when try to appropriate the world and impose our own vision of order, we distort it.
Another characteristic of these works is transparency. Martin Engler is giving up the usual opaque medium of paintings, his are transparent. It creates an indefinable irritation, a sensation of movement. Here at the bank, during opening hours, customers and employees join the works of art, interact with them the same way as they are with computers, teller windows and seats. This background is changing and moving. Tonight, the exhibition’s visitors will bring the objects to live. This means that the artist has deliberately given up the reassuring aspect of a stable visual background, giving way to the environment, inviting it to be part of the process of creating the work of art.
I think this is a very successful attempt to extract the work of art out of its usual isolation and consequently simultaneously enrich it. This way, the artworld and the everyday world are bounded in the same flow.
Allow me to end with a political remark, a thought about globalization which has become the topic of every argumentation. We are supposed to view the globalization process as a quasi divine order without opposition and accept its benefits. At the same time, we learn that the linguistic multiplicity is on the wane, the arms race is starting again, the abyss between rich and poor is widening more and more, not only at home but worldwide. The world is becoming a large global village more supervised, but at the same time more and more difficult to understand and alarming for many people.
At this point art could bring us some light through which our consciousness might be reinforced, our vision broadened, our judgments eased and our tolerance towards foreigners developed. This particularly happens when a worldwide cultural gipsy like Martin Engler gathers and re-creates a universe.
Finally the crowning compliment : the children will very much enjoy this exhibition as it does not require the necessity of an intellectual process, it is unique in its spirit but accessible to all.
I wish you all a very enriching experience.
Dr Peter Haas
Art critic
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Article from Thomas Hann sur www.kultiversum.de
April 2009
