"For many years, I focused on organising content into written images. In doing so, I intentionally limited myself and reached limits that I am now moving beyond. This is liberating and offers creative possibilities, complexity and depth that I never imagined. It's as if the letters feel it too."
The Speerstra Gallery in Paris is proud to present the new exhibition of the German artist Stohead, entitled "The Message". This exhibition explores the question of communication through the abstraction of contemporary calligraphy.
"The Message" is an interrogation that the artist proposes to explore around the idea of an aesthetic synthesis. This question preoccupies the artist in his approach to the abstraction of typographic characters. By condensing letters and modifying their shapes, Stohead abolishes conventional rules, depriving letters of their legibility and rendering them meaningless. Can a simple shape transmit a message, an information?
The answer of Stohead is undoubtedly affirmative. It can even go beyond. A form can transmit a feeling whose impact is not necessarily accessible to all. Yet art has never sought this, for it would make it arbitrary. Stohead's calligraphy is unique. He creates forms that are both familiar and strange, here the letters become abstract figures and the colors used are often bright and contrasting, creating a feeling of raw energy.
The Message" invites the public to reflect on communication and the meaning of forms. It presents works that transmit emotions rather than simple information, a moment centered on an encounter that provokes reactions even if the points of view are singular. The very notion of perception is questioned, reinvented by innovative techniques and creative principles. It is by forgetting the norms that we can learn to recreate.
© Speerstra Gallery
