With the exhibition Come again, Esther Kläs converges disparate media and forms in sensitive spatial relationships, bringing a distinctive energy and perspective onto their surroundings. The installations comprised of reduced sculptures and works on paper underscore physical presence and manners of viewing through a relationship of scales, positionings, and materials. The ways in which environment and form are navigated begins with a consideration of her low-elevation, floor-based sculptures, that confront from below. Inviting repeated observation, Come again, continues with a bridge to the wall-based works on paper that create their own internal spatial relationships with forms in a now flattened plane. Also creating an encounter from above, a ceiling-suspended sculptural element drifts over a flattened concrete surface on the floor, uniting space. Organically presented in groupings, with repetitions creating a rhythm, the works are close to, yet removed from reality. Appearing at once as independent presences and projections of a poetic imagination, the works emphasize intuitive gestures and continue Kläs’ investigations into form, openness, and perception.
Esther Kläs (b. 1981, Mainz, Germany) graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (2007) and received an MFA from Hunter College, New York (2010). She currently lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. Museum exhibitions include The subtle interplay between the I and the me, Kolumba, Cologne, Germany (2021); Esther Kläs: Maybe it can be different, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy (2020); Esther Kläs: Start, Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2019); Proof of Life, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, Germany (2018); Esther Kläs: ola/wave, Proyecto AMIL, Lima, Peru (2017-2018); Esther Kläs: Our Reality, Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, Italy (2015-2016); Whatness, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2015); Drawing Redefined, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts (2015); Esther Kläs: Girare Con Te, Marino Marini Museum, Florence, Italy (2014); Esther Kläs: Better Energy, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2012).
