Olaf Holzapfel

Olaf Holzapfel’s new works are pictures from the periphery; be it straw images from Lusatia or Brandenburg, or images from the dry forest areas of Argentina.
Traditional processes, such as weaving, are not used here as nostalgic quotations, but rather as a new way of coping with our continually changing times. Their formal vocabulary furthers a modernist tradition of abstraction that forbids any sentimental readings – these works are not about getting “back to nature,” in the sense of Rousseau.
The surprising beauty of these new works lies in their simultaneousness. They are made in nature, with the help of nature. However, the question of their origin, be it Bauhaus design, digital layouts, or in the traditional techniques employed remains unclear. By taking traditional craft seriously, and by revealing the flexibility of old ways of making and their similarity to very recent, even virtual models of organization, Holzapfel’s works point to how things became what they are, and how they keep evolving.