Hannah Sophie Dunkelberg always begins her works with a drawing. The silhouettes she sketches are transferred into various materials using industrial processes, expanding her interest in painting toward the object-like and sculpture. Her reliefs are three-dimensional embodiments of drawn gestures, fleeting movements captured in molded synthetic materials.
These works oscillate between abstraction and reification, with flowing lines that variously evoke plants, decorative patterns, or abstract, indefinable symbols. Dunkelberg deliberately leaves certain imperfections on the works’ smooth and shiny surfaces: traces of adhesive tape or screws remain visible, indicating her material-intensive and experimental working process. The playful use of form and color contrasts with heavy materials such as steel, aluminum, and plastic.
Dunkelberg’s interest is in how everyday objects and the symbolism we attach to them affects us; she transforms the familiar into a new and unfamiliar material context, questioning social norms in the process. Through the deliberate placement of her works within the space and their occasionally alienated scales, a gesture is produced that counteracts the traditional stability of the sculpture. The interplay between monumental and domestic elements creates an atmosphere of irritating intimacy, the familiar and the foreign collide with one another.
– Tabea Marschall
Photo: Cedric Mussano