Axel Anklam und Ulrike Stolte: Zweiklang

Axel Anklam (born 1971 Wriezen, died 2022 Berlin) and Ulrike Stolte (born 1980 Rüdersdorf, lives in Fürstenwalde) both develop their individual formal languages from a play of lines and contours, which they combine with surface forms. Stylistically, they move between abstraction and figuration with a preference for organic formal elements. Although both work with completely different materials, astonishing analogies in the canon of forms can be discovered in this exhibition. A tension-filled dialogue emerges, a „dual sound“ whose two poles are able to enrich each other.

Axel Anklam has executed his filigree, organic-looking sculptures with craftsmanship perfection. Like a draftsman, he used the pictorial elements of line and surface and transferred them into three-dimensional space. He covered the supporting framework, the curved, bent and tilted outlines made of metal, with wafer-thin surfaces made of epoxy resin or carbon, which overlap depending on the viewer’s position. These flawlessly shiny skins reflect their surroundings or are translucent materials through which light flows. Anklam had a musical understanding of sculptural forms. He derived the lengths of his sculptures from the sounds of the strings of a musical instrument. From these sound experiments with a monochord, he developed his graceful sculptures, which he combined with impressions and memories of landscape formations or human encounters.

Ulrike Stolte finds her organic repertoire of forms in human proportions, often in female body fragments. The richness of nature with its diverse leaf shapes is her starting point again and again. She contrasts the contours with playful strokes, spans her drawings with dynamic, swinging lines and lets the lines flow. The compressed bundles of lines sometimes appear like mysterious webs. She often uses collage-like pre-designed paper or textiles to create applications that are usually seamlessly integrated into the picture through sophisticated overdrawing. She is not afraid of strong patterns and ornaments that give the surfaces an energetic rhythm. Then she comes up with intense colors. She is particularly fond of the color red, which becomes a powerful signal for her.

In co-operation with ZAK – Centre for Contemporary Art, Spandau Citadel