"Archaic Traces"
by Isabelle Federkeil
 | The artist about her work: "Since primeval times man has been interfering with nature, changing it according to his ideas, cultivating and destroying it. I try to express this intervention through my sculpture. The surface of the block of stone is untreated, rough, just as nature created it. In contrast, the deeply incised graphic lines appear like injuries - archaic traces of the human effort to change." |
The end: Stones by the River by Dr. Baerbel Schulte
Isabelle Federkeil for example, human intervention in nature is a theme in her work. The question of the extent to which culture and nature connect with one another, compete with one another or even have a destructive effect on one another also occupied her with the stone entitled "Archaic Traces". Geometric lines stretch across the surface of the block, forming a network of rectangular plots, some running in the natural direction of the stone, but others being oriented in the opposite or oblique direction. The typical landscape structure of the Moselle region with its vineyard plots is reminiscent here. The dead-straight indentations contrast with the rough, natural surface and give an idea of the feat of strength it means, the effort that people have to make to leave their mark on nature.
Biography:
1958 born in Freisen, 1977 high school diploma, 1977-79 Academy of Fine Arts Munich, 1979-82 apprenticeship as a stone sculptor, 1982-1992 teaching position at the Saarbrücken University of Applied Sciences. 1992 scholarship Portugal, 1996-97 Cite Internationale des Arts - Paris. 1999 Lectureship at the Saarbrücken University of Applied Sciences. 2000 work stay in Tunisia. Exhibitions (selection): 1993 Museum Mia-Münster Haus, St. Wendel. 1994 Monumental Gallery, Lisbon, 1995 Espace Bateau Lavoir, Paris, Zwinger Gallery, St. Wendel, Bourglinster, Luxembourg, 1996 Clairefontaine Gallery, Luxembourg, Rodalben Stone Symposium. 1997 Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, Gallery Akie Aricchi, Paris, Ev. City Church of St. Wendel, Konstforum Norrköping, Sweden. 1998 Minimal Art Discount, Luxembourg. "File Not Found", Luxembourg. Steinsymposium Oberbillig. 2000 "Prisons" Michaelskirchen, Saarbrücken. "Movements", Art Center "KEN", Tunisia. "Visions 2000", State Art Exhibition of the Saarland, "Industrial Forms", Ebert Foundation, Saarbrücken. 2001 "Schatten", Brahms Diagnostica, Berlin, several sculptures in public space.