Pair of skis, wall suspension
201 x 28 x 20 cm
Unique piece
Acquisition in 2010
Roman Signer
B. 1938 in Switzerland, a graduate from the Zurich, Lucerne and Warsaw Fine Art Schools, Roman Signer currently lives and works in Saint-Gallen (Switzerland).
He is represented by the following galleries: Hausa & Wirth (Zurich, London, New York), Stampa (Basle), Hauser Contemporary (Munich, Zurich), Barbara Weiss (Berlin), Martin Janda (Vienna) and Art Concept (Paris).
Statement
The mini-shows or non-events that result from each of his works, question in a light-hearted way such issues as the economy of the show, the idea of productivity or performance, the obsession with efficiency and our deep-rooted functionality.
Mainly known for his ‘Actions/Sculptures’ and regularly categorized as a pyrotechnics artist or as the ‘explosion artist’, Signer however, refuses to be labeled by the prolific writings and comments regarding his oeuvre. The format he has invented encompasses performance, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography and video, no matter the medium chosen. His works consists in revealing, even suspending the creative process, in an attempt to structure time or to draw one’s attention to that which is barely visible. Signer therefore, does his utmost to reproduce that magical moment that has become almost a ritual in his work: the moment in which the furtive transformation of form and matter is made possible, or at the very least imaginable. Signer combines the simplicity of gestures or everyday objects with a complex series of technical and physical phenomena which he sets off without necessarily wanting to control them. The metaphysical aspect and intellectual daring of such an artistic process reveal notably the absence of evaluation criteria: here, success and failure have little value. The dangerous staging and absurd situations that often resemble circus acts play out in a subtle manner, walking the tightrope between free will and chance. A type of artist’s legend accompanies this perpetual starting over of the taking of action. With both a physical and auratic presence, Signer continuously sets off the action, off-screen, the stunt man or Sisyphean figure in his own universe.
Caroline Soyez-Petithomme