Robert F. Hammerstiel (Austria) Made in China – Made by Nature
Space Preference: Museum, Art Gallery, Dedicated Art Space
To contact this artist, please contact FotoFest: 713.223.5522 ext 18
Artist Statement
Robert F. Hammerstiel consumes, produces, and adapts. He decided in favour of the most monstrous cases of our "brave new world of merchandise" with its seducing products, but also and in the first place the dubious world they promise to make accessible. He only uses mass-produced goods which are already copies themselves: plastic tablecloths, artificial plants, rubber doggy bones, food made of plastic, yucca trees or, most recently, prefabs. He is captivated by replicas that have by far surpassed "their" matching originals in almost any respect. In keeping with the aesthetics of advertising, Hammerstiel transforms his motifs into desirable objects which appear in framed, shiny, large-format photographs, sometimes as if embedded in a flat showcase.
Robert F. Hammerstiel is interested in surrogates. Today you can buy an increasing number of products which are extolled for being imitations, for providing solutions to the troubles that accompany the real thing: The rubber version of a dog’s bone does away with those smells; fruit holds considerably longer if you buy it in plastic shape; artificial plants are incredibly undemanding; and laminate needs less care than parquet flooring. These products are supposed to defy our fear of life’s transitoriness, with advertising actually promoting this fear. They are models of an existing reality which, however, they can imitate in only one dimension, i.e. outer appearance. All other kinds of sensory perception, like tactility, acoustics, or taste, fall by the wayside.
The opulent still-lifes Made in China – Made by Natureconsist of such surrogate products. Each of the food items was cast out of plastic, in an optically convincing way. The photographs in this series are models, therefore, in several aspects: What used to be European foodstuff, a classic European art genre (the still life), and a popular European style (the trompe l’œil), has been reduced on all levels—imitated, rearranged, and photographed. And again, superficial temptations are played off against the recognition of the deception. Again, superficial temptations nurture desires which in turn are linked with the disappointment to follow later.
- Excerpt from “Beauty for our sober world!” by Ruth Horak
Captions
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Made in China – Made by Nature, 2004-2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
Robert F. Hammerstiel, Funen Art Museum exhibition view, 2006,
C-Print on aluminum, box-frames, acrylic glass sheets, 100 x 120 cm
