Helga Kreuzritter
T
hrough her aggressive experimentations with materials, Helga Kreuzritter has developed a language with which to speak on a multitude of topics ranging from politics to the dueling powers of man and nature.
"Nature has a very mighty and merciless companion: time. It plays against man," she explains. "Many of my artworks illustrate this fact, and they show how perishable man's efforts are in the long run." An aesthetic commonality in her works is the lack of clean, highly polished material so prized in architecture, automobiles and
abandoned. It is a stark image, with a cold otherworldly light cast down upon the forsaken structures, desiccated by the forces of nature and time. "The entire sophisticated array of housing, storage buildings, meeting place ("agora") does no longer fulfill its function," Kreuzritter explains, "simply because nature did capture back the land, devastating man's artificial constructions."
"The Crowd" is a work of similar textural quality, but more forthcoming about its content. Ghoulish faces rise from their rocky outcropping and seem to howl and moan. They are spirits or perhaps the
consumer goods. The forms and figures in her work seem aged and weatherworn and even when metals are used they do not carry sheen but reveal the rust of time.
The breadth of her inventiveness is astonishing as she creates material associations based on the topic of each individual piece. Born in Germany in 1937 and educated in drawing, painting and sculpture at the Art
voice of nature itself exclaiming its contempt, anguish and fear.
Kreuzritter possesses an arsenal of techniques for which to transmit diverse commentary to her audience.
Evocative materials such as barbed wire, clothes hangers and chains find their way into her work. Some of her images are done in relief and painted over with gouache or watercolor, while others incorporate collage and assemblage. The choice of technique and materi-
'Nature has a very mighty and merciless
companion: time. It plays against man'
Schools of Vlotho and Hamburg, Kreuzritter has a well-established career in the arts. She has exhibited widely in Europe, including the famous Gallery Kandinsky in Vienna, and has recently begun to exhibit in New York.
"Agora" at first glance appears to be the dry expanse of barren lands on a dead planet, however upon further inspection the circular gathering of tooth-like forms appears to be man-made, yet
als depends entirely on the particular subject to be conveyed. Kreuzritter flows easily from two-dimensional to three-dimensional works, drawing, sculpting wood, painting or assembling found objects.
Her work is not easy to categorize stylistically, this may be attributed to the expansive nature of her interests and her creative ingenuity. Helga Kreuzritter lives and works in Stade, Germany.