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 Stefan Strumbel
Germany
Stefan Strumbel’s art uses such motives that are associated with the Black Forest as a symbol of his own home and on the second level of abstraction with the paradigm of "home".
Strumbel’s instrument and medium are objects of folk art such as the cuckoo clock, bizarrely distorted as the "Strumbel Clock", which exaggerates motives and form of its presentation to the absurd. Objects such as crucifixes or the cuckoo clock are cult and cultural objects. They stand for a stereotype of home, folklore, lay piety and tradition. The cuckoo clock is a landmark for philistinism and transfigured “Heimatromantik”, it stands for Good Old Times, values and work values, tradition and craftsmanship.
They contrast sharply with Strumbel’s art objects out of existing or using old craft techniques remakes. He uses the style elements of pop art and urban art. For example Strumbel replaces significant elements of the clock, the carving of the original home glorified icons by aggressive motives and attributes, and then operates the recycling to the highest craftsmanship. His extreme form and content escalation creates a new and unique artificial and artistic aesthetic. The sculptural objects provoke and entice at the same time through formal means of decadence and utmost taboo content (weapons, death, pornography). |
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