Rindon Johnson
Manastabal, my guide, walks ahead of me with her hands in the pockets of her jeans, the space is flat, flat enough to reveal the circularity of the planet on the horizon, the sand passes in fine hard blades over the beaten surfaces, what comes through comes as protocol and is indifferent all that is serious melts into cute, the eagle falls to the ground with a clanking noise, Manastabal, my guide, normally static in appearance has relaxed limbs and lively muscles, I have difficulty in attracting her attention, quite suddenly she says you will have to find the words to describe this place lest everything you see suddenly disappears, the egg you already are keeps becoming an egg again., 2026
Brick
Dimensions variable
Edition of 3
Copyright The Artist
Photo: Dirk Tacke
Weitere Abbildungen
„Manastabal, my guide, walks ahead of me […]” (2026) ist eine aus gebrauchten Ziegelsteinen gestapelte Mauer, die in einem Bogen im Raum steht. Johnson bezieht sich dabei sowohl auf Sol...
„Manastabal, my guide, walks ahead of me […]” (2026) ist eine aus gebrauchten Ziegelsteinen gestapelte Mauer, die in einem Bogen im Raum steht. Johnson bezieht sich dabei sowohl auf Sol Lewitts Mauern im „Hoffman Garden“ in Dallas (2004) als auch auf die in Großbritannien verbreitete Form der „crinkle crankle walls“. Während Lewitt diese Form wählte, um den Wurzeln der Eichen im Garten zu folgen, wurden die Mauern ursprünglich verwendet, da sie aufgrund ihrer serpentinenartigen Struktur weniger Ziegel benötigen. Johnson löst die Architektur als rein abschirmendes Element auf, das Innen und Außen definiert und interessiert sich für die Möglichkeit die Form zu nutzen, um Fragen nach Zugehörigkeit und Abgrenzung zu stellen. Mauern können Assoziationen zu Themen wie Migration und Überwachung wecken, aber sie können auch einfach ein hier und dort markieren. Johnson reflektiert über die Auswirkungen der Raumgestaltung auf unser Empfinden und Verhalten und fragt, wie wir uns in diese größeren Strukturen einfügen und uns darin wiederfinden. Der Künstler verwendet diese Form in Innenräumen sowohl als Werkzeug als auch als Provokation: Grenzen sind für ihn sowohl künstlich als auch von Natur aus zerbrechlich.“Buildings become containers of our ideas, outlines of our reflections—I am interested in experimenting with that experience both in physical and virtual spaces.”
"Manastabal, my guide, walks ahead of me […]" (2026) is a wall stacked from used bricks, arranged in an arch within the space. Johnson is referring both to Sol Lewitt’s walls in the “Hoffman Garden” (2004) in Dallas and to the vernacular of crinkle crankle walls in the UK. While Lewitt pursued this form to follow the roots of the oak trees in the garden, the walls were originally used because they required less bricks due to their serpentine structure. Dissolving architecture as a purely screening element that defines an inside and an outside, Johnson was interested in these parallel forms and the possibility that he might take them to continue his questioning of belonging and demarcation. These walls sometimes evoke associations with themes such as migration and surveillance but they also might simply mark, over here and over there. Johnson reflects on the effects of spatial design on how we feel and behave, questioning how we fit into and find ourselves within these larger structures. Johnson pulls this form indoors as both a tool and a taunt; boundaries to the artist are both artificial and inherently fragile. "Buildings become containers of our ideas, outlines of our reflections-I am interested in experimenting with that experience both in physical and virtual spaces."
"Manastabal, my guide, walks ahead of me […]" (2026) is a wall stacked from used bricks, arranged in an arch within the space. Johnson is referring both to Sol Lewitt’s walls in the “Hoffman Garden” (2004) in Dallas and to the vernacular of crinkle crankle walls in the UK. While Lewitt pursued this form to follow the roots of the oak trees in the garden, the walls were originally used because they required less bricks due to their serpentine structure. Dissolving architecture as a purely screening element that defines an inside and an outside, Johnson was interested in these parallel forms and the possibility that he might take them to continue his questioning of belonging and demarcation. These walls sometimes evoke associations with themes such as migration and surveillance but they also might simply mark, over here and over there. Johnson reflects on the effects of spatial design on how we feel and behave, questioning how we fit into and find ourselves within these larger structures. Johnson pulls this form indoors as both a tool and a taunt; boundaries to the artist are both artificial and inherently fragile. "Buildings become containers of our ideas, outlines of our reflections-I am interested in experimenting with that experience both in physical and virtual spaces."