wind, clouds and rain as ephemeral sculpture

Landscapes in the drawings and events of Roman Signer

 

Spazierstock (Walking Stick), 1997
Project for Skulptur Projekte Münster

"...His contribution in 1997 for the sculpture project in Münster illustrates Signer's artistic perception in all it's complexity. With the use of hydraulic pressure, he has a walking stick dance across the surface of a lake. The water, carried through a bent pipe to the walking stick, allowed the walking stick to move, drawing lines of water across the surface of the lake. The hiker's accessory breaks free to become the drawing tool. Signer thereby also alludes to the Romantic period, where the walking stick represented the landscape experience. In Signer's installation, Spazierstock (Walking Stick), hiking and drawing are identical, where, just as in the Romantic period, the concept of landscape was completely tied to the drawn or painted landscape image. However, while Romantic painters filled entire sketchbooks on their walks and by doing so collected a subject reservoir for their oftentimes lengthy work in their studios, Signer's drawing on the water's surface is fleeting, its documentation futile, if not almost impossible."

an excerpt from catalogue essay for Zeichnungen by Ortrud Westheider