(…) La serie «Spinning Cube» de Kronschlaeger es otro examen sobre la forma de la cuadrícula y sus complejidades. Cada cubo está construido con 300 varillas facetadas, cada una con cuatro caras. Cada cara de cada varilla está pintada con uno de seis colores. En las 1,200 superficies totales, cada color aparece 200 veces. La totalidad del Cubo se coloca sobre uno de sus vértices, un cambio simple en la orientación que socava la estabilidad del cuadrado y sus cuatro ángulos rectos, y luego se establece en rotación mediante el uso de un motor.«Hago girar al Cubo porque es más fácil para el observador ver la multitud de colores en cada lado», reflexiona Kronschlaeger. «Verlo en su eje diagonal mejora su aspecto visual». Transmitir movimiento a un cuadrado es un gesto radical. Este fue un desafío abordado por Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) en sus famosas pinturas romboides «Lozenge», como también por Josef Albers (1888-1976) quien elogió la «honestidad» del cuadrado sobre la deshonestidad del círculo, precisamente debido al hecho de que aquel no se mueve: » Hace mucho tiempo que sé que un círculo siempre me engaña al no decirme si está quieto o no. Y si un circulo gira, no ves el movimiento. . . . Entonces el cuadrado es mucho más honesto y me dice que está asentado en una línea de las cuatro, generalmente una horizontal, como base». Del mismo modo, LeWitt observa la inercia del cuadrado: » Comparado con cualquier otra forma tridimensional, el cubo no tiene ninguna fuerza agresiva, no tiene movimiento y es menos emotivo”. Si la temática general del trabajo de Kronschlaeger es el juego óptico y la distorsión engendrada por la exposición de las formas conceptuales en el espacio vivido, entonces los “Spinning Cubes” exacerban estas condiciones ilógicas al pedirle al Cubo que haga lo que está excepcionalmente no calificado para hacer: girar.
Kronschlaeger’s “Spinning Cube” series is another iteration of the artist’s examination of the grid form and its complexities and mutability. Each Cube is constructed of 300 faceted rods, each with four faces. Each face of each rod is painted with one of six colors. Of the 1,200 total surfaces, therefore, each color appears 200 times. The entirety of the Cube is then placed on one of its corners, a simple change in orientation that undermines the stability of the square and its four right angles, and then set in rotation through the use of a motor. “To have [the Cube] spin, it’s easier for the observer to see the multitude of colors on each side,” Kronschlaeger reflects. “Seeing it on its diagonal axis enhances its viewing aspect.” To impart movement to a square is a radical gesture. It was a conundrum tackled by Mondrian in his famous “Lozenge” paintings, and the color theorist and educator Josef Albers praised the “honesty” of the square over the dishonesty of the circle, precisely due to the fact that it does not move: “I have known for a long time that a circle always fools me by not telling me whether it’s standing still or not. And if a circle circulates you don’t see it. . . . So the square is much more honest and tells me that it is sitting on one line of the four, usually a horizontal one, as a basis.” Likewise, LeWitt notes the square’s inertness: “Compared to any other three-dimensional form, the cube lacks any aggressive force, implies no motion, and is least emotive.” If one overarching theme of Kronschlaeger’s work is the optical play and distortion engendered by the experience of conceptual forms in lived space, then the Spinning Cubes exacerbate these illogical conditions by asking the Cube to do what it is uniquely unqualified to do—spin.
Nathan Morrow Jones / Historiador de Arte. Columbia University, NYC.
Alois Kronschlaeger
Estocolmo polychromatic spinning cube 2020 Basswood, acrylic ink, stainless steel industrial motor Cube 24 x 24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 x 61 cm ) Diagonal axis: 42 x 42 x 42 inches (106 x 106 x 106 cm) Unique
Estocolmo small glacier zmbfw (Black Fade to White) 2022 Basswood, Acrylic ink 37 ½ x 24 x 5.3 inches. (95 x 61.5 x 13.5 cm) Unique Foto: Pedro González | @pedrogonzalezangulo
Estocolmo small glacier zmfb (Fade to Black) 2022 Basswood, Acrylic ink 37 ½ x 24 x 5.3 inches. (95 x 61.5 x 13.5 cm) Unique Foto: Pedro González | @pedrogonzalezangulo
Estocolmo small glacier zmfw (Fade to White) 2022 Basswood, Acrylic ink 37 ½ x 24 x 5.3 inches. (95 x 61.5 x 13.5 cm) Unique Foto: Pedro González | @pedrogonzalezangulo
Torque (quilt 01 stainless steel with octagonal star 05) 2022 82.5 cm x 28 cm 27.94 x 27.94 x 27.94 cm. Basswood, Acrylic ink Unique Foto: Pedro González @pedrogonzalezangulo
Untitled Serie Yarn Works 2020-2022 Malla de aluminio, tinta acrilica, silicone trasparente y negro, lana teñida a mano, acero al carbón ennegrecido y madera 40,6 x 47,7 x 11 cm
Modular structure (Configuration # 1) 2020 Polished aluminum. 117,5 x 7, 5 x 7,5 inches (298,3 x 19,3 x 19,3 cm) 12,25 x 60,5 x 60,5 inches (31,8 x 153,2 x 153,2 cm) Unique Foto & Video: Gael Hiriart | @ghiriart
Shifting Landscape is a sculptural installation by Alois Kronschlaeger for Design Week Mexico that consists of sixty-fourmulticolored carbon steel rods welded to the roof of a 1950s Mexican baroque-style house in the neighborhood ofPolanco, in Mexico City. Nearly twenty feet long and one inch wide, the individual rods are arranged in rows ofeight, equally distanced from one another to create a perfect geometric shape.Shifting Landscape, 2016, is a sculptural installation for Design Week Mexico that consists of sixty-fourmulticoloredcarbon steel rods welded to the roof of a 1950s Mexican baroque-style house in the neighborhood of Polanco, inMexico City. Nearly twenty feet long and one inch wide, the individual rods are arranged in rows of eight, equallydistanced from one another to create a perfect geometric shape.While carbon steel is a sturdy material, the sculpture appears supple and elastic as the rods sway gently in thewind. As the viewer’s vantage point changes, the sculpture produces a moiré pattern effect thatengages andtransfixes the eye. In the context of a building whose inherited architectural character is associated with thehistorical past, Kronschlaeger’s mobile site-specific response brings contemporary ideas of flexibility and change.Visually, the sculpture invites the public to reconsider the interplay between art and architecture, using naturalmovement to shift the landscape and optically challenge the viewer.
Alois Kronschlaeger
Shifting landscape (#1) 2019 Carbon Steel, exterior acrylic paint 236 x 55 x 55 inches. (600 x 140 x 140 cm) Base: 9 x 55 x 55 inches. (20 x 140 x 140 cm) Foto & Video: Gael Hiriart | @ghiriart
Shifting landscape (#3) 2019 Carbon Steel, exterior acrylic paint Yellow, Rosa Mexicano, Acua, Purple 64 Rods, 1 inch square. (2.5 cm) 236 x 55 x 55 inches. (600 x 140 x 140 cm) Base: 9 x 55 x 55 inches. (20 x 140 x 140 cm)
Part of the exhibition “TIME, SPACE, COLOR,” Kronschlaeger’s “Celosias”are an invitation to slow down and contemplate. They seduce and position the spectator in a passive role, while at the same time inciting them to actively walk through the experience of transparency and color set to a human scale. The play of tones and the raw material favored by the artist repeat themselvesin this body of work. According to the spectator’s position, they transform shape through light and color. In this way, the artwork must be walked through and experienced in its different projections. The modular architecture of “Celosias” is a system composed of separate elements that can be connected through shape and color relationships. The beauty of this is that different “Celosias” can be added or replaced without affecting the rest of the system. This is reflected in its materiality and site possibilities: aluminum polished profiles with metallic paint makes these works function as installations, or unique pieces that can coexist both as exterior sculptures as well as architectural elements within an interior. Different proposals for configurations of “Celosias” explore environment, intimacy, and scale. The viewer reflection in the polished surface of the material also revealsthe surrounding atmosphere. The experience with Kronschlaeger’s “Celosias”and its various color configurations manifest through spontaneous architecture. The result is a consideration of the harmonious relationship between the built and natural environment.
Flavia Masetto, 2018
Alois Kronschlaeger
Celosías configuration ner. 1, 2 OF 5 2018 290 x 140 x 30 cm (each module) Polished aluminum profiles, metallic paint Unique Foto: Pedro Yañez
Carbon steel structure (Configuration #1) 2015 Carbon Steel 45 x 24 x 24 (113 x 61 x 61 cm) 120 pieces 4 x 3 x 8.5 (10 x 7 x 22 cm) 24 pieces 4 x 3 x 18 inches (10 x 7 x 46 cm) Unique Foto: Gael Hiriart | @ghiriart
Untitled, new work 2017 Aluminum mesh, hand dyed merino wool, Blackened carbon steel, wood. 16 x 18 x 4.25 inches ( 40.6 x 45.7 x 11 cm ) Unique Foto: John Muggenborg | @muggphoto
Alois es internacionalmente conocido por sus instalaciones “site-specific” y esculturas, que demuestran una preocupación por el ambiente y la luz, como también por su interés en explorar el tiempo y el espacio a través de la geometría. Su trabajo existe en la intersección entre arte y arquitectura; sus formas son abstractas y los materiales simples como en la tradición de artistas como Frederick Kiesler y Buckminster Fuller. Su obra ha sido expuesta en instituciones y festivales internacionales como Figge Art Museum (Iowa, 2018), Bruce Museum of Art and Science (Connecticut), Yuan Art Museum (Beijing), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tucson (Arizona), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de LIma (Perú), y el Festival de Arte Islámico, (Sharjah, Emiratos Árabes), entre otros. Desde el 2011, el artista ha producido seis instalaciones públicas de sus esculturas en los Estados Unidos, y entre 2015 y 2022 ha creado tres instalaciones de sitio especifico en la Ciudad de Méxicoy una en Sarasota, Florida, y una exhibición individual titulada: TIME, SPACE, COLOR en Roldan Moderno en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Actualmente Kronschlaeger vive y trabaja entre Brooklyn, Nueva York, y la Ciudad de México, y es representado por la Galería Cristin Tierney en Nueva York, Roldan Moderno en Buenos Aires, Mark Hachem en Paris y Líbano y Now: Gallery en Lima, Perú.
Alois Kronschlaeger (b. 1966) is best known for his site-specific installations and sculptures, which demonstrate a preoccupation with environment and light, as well as an interest in exploring time and space via geometry. His work has been exhibited at international institutions and festivals such as The Bruce Museum of Arts and Sciences (CT), Yuan Art Museum (Beijing), Solo Museum Show at MOCA Tucson (AZ), MAC Lima (Peru), and Islamic Arts Festival (Sharjah) and his second Solo Museum Show at the Figge Museum (IA) among others. Since 2011, the artist has produced four large site-specific public installations, including Hybrid Structures, which consisted of a series of interconnected ramps and platforms that traversed a deconsecrated church campus. In 2017 Hybrid Structures was awarded “Best of Show” by the American Institute of Architecture (AIA). Kronschlaeger lives and works between Brooklyn, NY and Mexico City, and is represented by Cristin Tierney Gallery in New York, Roldan Moderno in Buenos Aires, Mark Hachem in Paris and Lebanon, and Now: Gallery in Lima, Peru.