*1967 in Dresden, lives and works in Berlin
Since 2013, Antje Blumenstein’s artistic work has focussed on the line. The names of groups of works such as the paper folds entitled ‘lines’, the ‘folded lines’ made of aluminium rods hanging freely in the room or on the wall, sculptural works such as the ‘folded pieces’ made of acrylic glass or ‘one line seven corners’ made of neon tubes confirm what visually proves to be a common denominator. After studying painting and graphic art at the art academies in Nuremberg and Dresden, she initially turned her attention to socially relevant themes as a painter. The investigation of the illusory world of glamour as a substitute for religion led to objects with neon lettering and those with cheaply produced glitter material from one-euro shops, which she staged like precious relics on pedestals.
The turn towards fundamental, concrete questions and the exploration of perceptual processes was accompanied by a concentration on a few materials and on light, combined with a far-reaching restriction to geometric structures and formations created linearly on the surface and in space.
Extract from: Susannah Cremer-Bermbach, Dynamische Linien, agierende Wände. Zu den Arbeiten von Antje Blumenstein, in: Viel Licht – Viel Schatten. Tom Mosley + Antje Blumenstein, exhibition catalogue, published by Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst, Soest 2022, pp. 11-14, transl. by Juliane Rogge
The paper folding from the series ‘cross’ shown in this exhibition is based on the observation of architecture, namely a lively façade of a high-rise building in Hamburg that extends from the surface into the room.
Juliane Rogge