ewerdt hilgemann

born 1938, Witten, Germany

The exhibition of Ewerdt Hilgemann at the Závodný Gallery aims to trace his artistic way over a timeline from the 1960s to the present day. The exhibition curator, mr. Hans-Peter Riese, has chosen an installation that allows viewers to perceive the gradual transformation of the artist's work from geometric relief structures to freestanding sculptures, where the principles of random coincidence and formal destruction come into play.

The working method and conceptual structure of the artwork represent a unique authorial concept. The naturalness and dimension of Hilgemann’s sculptures bring them closer to natural laws, even though a technologically demanding process is required to create the final result of the sculpture. The objects convincingly and harmoniously blend with urban spaces or authentic nature. Modern art can be seen as a certain metamorphosis - an artificial object becomes an integral part of public space, interacts with surrounding architecture, reflects the sky, trees, and figrues. The boundaries between the living and the created disappear…

The initial attempts ath the desctruciton of precisely crafted objects, often cubes or prims made of stone or metal, were carried out mechanically. Free fall, during which uncoordinated impacts caused deformation, served as the initial inspiration for exploring how to incorporate the principle of coicidence into the concept of creation. Subsenquently, Ewerdt Hilgemann developed a procedure of destruction - air is vacuum-extracted from the object. The body of the statue collapses into the inner space from its contact edges, and the final shape is the result of assumption and hance, two entirely contradictory criteria. Vacuum extraction of air is reffered to as implosion.

With some objects, the author further works by cutting them in half or opening their shell to reveal the inner space of the object. Polished and matte stainless steel generates sharply defined contrasting srufaces of the obtects, creating a mutual opposition. Day and night, yin and yang, gloss and matte - fundamental principles of balance and opposing forces that maintain tension and necessary stability…

Ewerdt Hilgemann’s sculptures can be seen in public in many worlds metropolities. The german born author who resides in the Netherlands since 1970, has shown his works internationally, among others on Park Avenue, New York, Centrum City, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Rorrerdam and Gorinchem, Netherlands, Berlin, Germany, Sion, Switzerland, Nivala, Finland, Galati, Romania and Ko-Yang City, Korea.

Futhermore, in front of Závodný Gallery on Lorm Square in Mikulov, Hilgemann's stainless steel stele will be temporarily installed. Visitors of the exhibiton will have the opportunity to appreciate the installation both within the gallery's interior and as part of the historic Jewish quarter.