Artist: Christiane Löhr

Tucci Russo Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea presents, in its Torre Pellice venue, the fourth exhibition with the gallery of the German artist Christiane Löhr, following her first solo show in 2014.

Focusing on constant research into form, Christiane Löhr’s language has evolved from a strong connection with nature, resulting in light, impalpable works that exceed all visual expectations. Stems, seeds, horsehair, reflecting the natural life cycle, are moulded into slender sculptures and installations reminiscent of stable architectural objects and structures. The organic material is taken out of its original context and given new life through the artist’s process of re-elaboration. The result is powerful and able to transcend the transience of time. Space and proportion are two of the main characteristics of Löhr’s work, and this can also be seen in her drawings in which the sinuous lines, starting from a point, grow and unwind on the paper to continue mentally beyond it. The artist herself states:

“It is true that I have always worked parallel with sculpture and drawing.
In both cases, I’m confronted with space. In sculpture, I work with the physical, three-dimensional space of my studio or the exhibition venue. In drawing, I ponder the empty space of the paper. In my sculptural works, the materials guide my working process and it is the experimentation with the possibilities and limits of the same that will lead me to the result. It feels like a collaboration between the organic materials, my efforts, and my will.
In contrast, the empty space of the paper allows me much more freedom, but there is also an element of fear due to the countless possibilities it presents. Nevertheless, I think that my drawings are derived from my sculptural works as drawing does feel to me like a sculptural process: rubbing the greasy oil pastel into the fibers of the paper and scratching the white surface with a sharp pencil point. The difference is that when working on paper, my starting point comes from deep within and will only clarify on paper.”
Interview with Stephanie Buhmann, June 2016

In the gallery, the artist has created an installation using horsehair: four columns, with a fine and immaterial texture, almost invisible, develop vertically joining the ceiling and floor. In another room, works on paper of different sizes and executed in different techniques such as oil pastel, graphite and ink are exhibited; the sculptures, still made through the use of natural material, dialogue with each other and balance on the wall surface proceeding from the smallest to the largest.

Christiane Löhr (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1965) lives and works in Prato and Cologne, Germany. She graduated from the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf with Jannis Kounellis (1994), with whom she later completed a Master of Arts (1996). Her major solo and group exhibitions include: Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy, 2024; Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany, 2023; Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chaumont-sur-Loire, France, 2022; Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany, 2021; Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy, 2020; Galleria e Museo San Fedele, Milan, Italy, 2020; Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden / Cragg Foundation, Wuppertal, Germany, 2018; Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland, 2016; MAGA, Gallarate (Varese), Italy, 2016; MART, Rovereto (Trento), 2013 and 2017; Villa and Collezione Panza, Varese, Italy, 2010; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy, 2001. Her works are to be found in private and museum collections. In 2001 she took part in the 49th Venice Biennale curated by Harald Szeemann and in 2016 she was awarded the Pino Pascali Prize by the foundation of the same name. In 2020 the German publishing house Hatje Cantz published an extensive monograph dedicated to the artist.