GALLERY - TEXT AND PICTURES

Room design – light and shadow – colour to light

Side stage turns into main stage

Nothing but day light on white canvas – Anna Strausak documented this original state initially with a pinhole camera. She was fascinated by the continuously changing shadows which accidentally appeared on the empty canvases and walls. The visual appearances depended on the weather and the light. While on sunny days the sharply outlined shadows of window crosses and objects would appear, cloudy and nebulous shapes would move over the canvases on overcast or foggy days.

Based on these observations the artist developed her „light fields“, white paintings with structures, changing in the light of the days and seasons. („Giessenmühle unplugged“)

Light - Water - Paper

The view of the lake day in day out has inevitably been a great influence on the artist.

From observations of the relation between water and light – especially light broken by the windowpanes -  the cycle „Lake of Z.“ evolved – pictures with a view of the lake, so to speak. Of course they refer to lake Zürich, but at the same time to any other lake, as these works are about the dancing and reflecting light on the waves in general, about the spirit of the interaction between light and water, swirled by the wind.

The unstable and flowing elements called for a solid base, like in the creation of the „light fields”. There the artist used a material made from cellulose, which she had created specifically for this purpose. For the lake pictures big sheets of paper were cut into strips – like the reflections on the water by the waves. Afterwards the pieces would be joined together in a new way.  (StäfArt)

Strips – Sticks – Slats

The paper strips were gradually being replaced by sticks made from MDF and were beginning to conquer the third dimension. A group of steles and wall objects in big formats evolved.

Also the new slats pictures are continually changing with the light, thereby encouraging the viewer to move. Like with a mobile camera you want to discover the pictures from different angles: standing right in front of the picture your look seems to be caught in the slats, looking at the objects from the side they become three dimensional. Even when you pass accidentally, the surfaces seem to ripple, as if the wind would blow over them.

While the pictures were mainly white last year, the velvety elegance of black has now been added, with a spot of colour here and there. The artist uses mainly natural pigments like ferrous oxide in all its variations, from yellow to red and black.

Photography

The artist has always been documenting the atmosphere of the creation process with her cameras.

A rich and varied collection of analog and digital photos, photograms and pictures made with the pinhole camera have become an integral part of the artist’s works – a treasure chest for exhibitions.

Warning!

The photos of the pictures and objects represent just a moment in time and are therefore visually limited. To experience the full effect of the works, a visit to the studio or to an exhibition is recommended. This is particularly true for the three dimensional works, the wall objects with their colour shades as well as the slats pictures.