WE MEET DIETMAR STEGEMANN GERMAN ARTIST, SCULPTOR AND FORMER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF THE PINAKOTHEK DER MODERNE IN MUNICH , WHICH MAKES US DISCOVER HIS PERSONAL COSMOS
IN YOUR TRAINING PATH WHAT WERE YOUR REFERENCE ARTISTIC FIGURES AND WHOM DID YOU FEEL CLOSEST TO?
I found references in many authors as Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle, Lothar Fischer, Alf Lechner, Klaus Schröter, Dietmar Scharfe, Arte Povera, Fischli/Weiss, H.M. Bachmeyer, Fritz König, Alfred Klemm, Christian Boltanski, Michael Croissant, Cy Twombly
IN WHAT TERMS WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR POETICS?
I'm curious about the process of transformation. The form is regulated by material and material defines my work. It is my task to decide when the process is finished. I'm constantly trying to approach the point where perfect consummation in its unfinished state is the most powerful. Perceptibility by repetition, perceiving the hidden in tiniest distinctions. Presentation and narration.
HOW MUCH HAS THE STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGY INFLUENCED THE CONCEPTION OF YOUR SCULPTURAL WORKS?
I try to dissolve the sculpture, only to return to the beginning and walk the path from objective art to abstract once again. Sharpening, reviewing, extending again and again by studying the archaic forms. Exposing the mere substance of forms.
THE FORMS OF YOUR SUBJECTS REMAIN IN A SUBTLE INDEFINITENESS, IN A SILENCE THAT CONCEALS THE ATTEMPT TO DECLARE SOMETHING - WHICH ONE?
Floating into the unknown where language and mind cannot go. Between lines, worlds, assertions, or between fish and wheel.
DOES PROXIMITY TO THE OTHER WORLD, ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE, SEEM TO BE A NEGATION OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM - AN INSTINCTIVE TENDENCY OR A REASONED SUBTRACTION?
I rather look at myself as an intuitive inventor of a different cosmos. The animal enters into my world, the invention does not follow any concept.
IN YOUR WORKS THERE IS AN EVIDENT IRONY. DOES IT REFER TO PRECISE CONCEPTS? DOES IT HAVE A CONNECTION WITH THE SENSE OF THE UNFINISHED?
The figures in their individuality kind of impartially speak to the viewers who can then embark their own narratives. And yes, that definitely leaves space for irony as well.
by DMM for Dare Clan
images provided by Dietmar Stegemann