Deborah Schamoni

Maria VMier uses brushes, her hands, inks, and pigments, to make her paintings on paper. Instead of being applied to the paper, the ghostly forms of her paintings appear to emerge directly from another realm. Related to modes of writing, VMier’s shapes are something between a landscape and a language: rigorously abstract, yet offering a tantalizing hint of legibility. Reflecting on the fragile relationship between artist and institution, VMier complements her paintings with a series of door knockers mounted on the walls of the museum. The knockers’ biomorphic forms were sculpted by the artist in wax and then cast in bronze. They appear repulsive and attractive at the same time. In some places they are polished to a shine, in others left darkly sharp-edged and rough, appearing somehow between fruits, jewelry, organs, and aliens. The door knockers point us to different possibilities of accessibility and encourage us to think about which spaces are closed to us and for what reasons. Visitors are invited to touch the knockers and bang on the walls.

Photos: Haydar Koyupinar