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Roswitha Haftmann Prize Goes to Vija CelminsThe Board of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation will award the 2009 Roswitha Haftmann Prize to the American artist Vija Celmins.
Vija Celmins paints with oils on canvas or draws with charcoal on paper; her imagery is representational and sometimes not without allusions to violence: a gun held by an outstretched hand or a burning man getting out of a car imply a potential threat.
Especially her works dating back to the 1960s reflect a world destabilized by the menace of war and domestic political conflicts.
However, the works she executed at the turn of the millennium contrast radically with her earlier creations.
Reinstating perpetuity and tranquility, they transport the viewer beyond the immediate present with its restless streets and pressures of mass media.
The artist redirects her focus entirely to nature and levels her attention at the remote distance.
Aided by the photogravure technique to render a generalized representation, night skies have a calming effect and refer to universal laws.
If we scrutinize the close-up view of a spider's web, then our fear subsides and turns into admiration of natural phenomena.
Celmins' late works are the products of many minute and often repetitive stages of laboriously fixing images on paper.
Not only the artist derives inner strength from this creative process, but it also promotes the same depth of concentration and profundity of aesthetic experience in the viewer.
more: Roswitha Haftmann Prize Goes to Vija Celmins
August 18, 2008 | Viewed 28,068 time(s)
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