SEASONS


Ygdrasil, Autumn in Auvergne

Anselm Kiefer, “Ygdrasil, Herbst in Der Auvergne,” 2010, Gouache on Photographic Paper. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York. 

Summer in Barjac - The reknowned Orders of Night
Anselm Kiefer, “Sommer in Barjac — Die berühmten Orden der Nacht” 2010, gouache on 

photographic paper. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York.


"Snow melt in the Odenwald. Goodbye, winter, parting hurts but your departure makes my heart cheer. Gladly I forget thee, may you always be far away. Goodbye, winter, parting hurts."

Anselm Kiefer, “Snow Melt in the Odenwald,” 2010, gouache on photographic paper. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York.

Work on the book has recently had me engaging in discussion of Heidegger, and I have once again been seeing the world with a tint of Anslem Kiefer to it. The relationship between the two men - and their philosophies - is intriguing in many ways. See here, and of course Michael Biro. I've been musing on it a lot lately, and will continue this blog when I've found the right words. In any case, this book is on my must-acquire list. You can see some of the blood-freezingly-beautiful photography here,I couldn't bring myself to re-post. For now, Kiefer has the most interesting thing to say: 

"There is a special border, the border between art and life that
often shifts deceptively. Yet, without this border, there is no art.
In the process of being produced, art borrows material from life,
and the traces of life still shine through the completed work of art.
But, at the same time, the distance from life is the essence, the
substance of art. And, yet, life has still left its traces. The more
scarred the work of art is by the battles waged on the borders
between art and life, the more interesting it becomes."
~ Anselm Kiefer


In looking for all-things-Kiefer, I also stumbled across this amazing resource at the University of Minnesota (why have I not heard of robert Stackhouse before!?) and this film by Sophie Fiennes.