APRIL 2005

Paring wax colored in rich hueswith wood, Johannes Giradonihas concocted a winning combi-nation. The texture and aroma ofthese works are as captivating astheir curved forms and dramaticcolors. The titles of the pieces (all2004) reflect the names of thepigments that Girardoni mixesinto various types of beeswaxfrom all over the world. While thecolors lean toward loud, thesculpted shapes are quiet andsubtle, both whimsical and archi-tectural. These pieces derivestrength from their simple,straightforward contrast of materi-als: the fabricated and the found.

Diptych-Orange Umber pairs arescued, rough-hewn beam withan elegant squared column ofwax that echoes the proportionsof the wood, complete with anotch at the top. The two sym-metrical sections are connectedalong the vertical, and the con-trasting materials attract andadhere. For Stacked.1-ChromeEarth Yellow, Girardoni places along, orange wax runner atop asix-foot “balance beam.” The 4-inch-wide wax segment runs theentire length and is gently slopedat either end.

Monopod (Pair) – DioxaneMauve places two purple “huts”on stilts composed of slenderpieces of pale wood. Viewers canlook underneath and inside thepurple forms for a full sensoryimmersion in chroma and aroma.

The softly rounded corners andthe peaks of the roofs demon-strate the artist’s dexterity withthe medium; he leaves areas ofrough texture intact to reveal thehandcrafted nature of the work.Untitled-(4.1 Ultraviolet Dk.) fol-lows the form of a ziggurat. Thissmall, deep purple object sitsconfidently atop a slab of foundwood mounted to the wall.Perhaps the most playful of thegroup is Line/7-Cad. YellowDeep, a continuous, 87-inch wideencaustic rectangle with a rippledtop. This undulating yellow-orange wiggle of wax literally

Johannes Girardoniat Stephen Haller

Johannes Girardoni: Line/7-Cad. Yellow Deep, 2004, beeswax, pigment and wood,66 1/2 by 87 1/2 by 15 1/2 inches; at Stephen Haller.

rises to the occasion on a simplewooden table with long legs.

Licht Objekt 2-Preussisch Blaudeviates from the other works onview in not having a wood com-ponent. Four purple-blue slabs(each a horizontal rectangle) arewall-mounted edge to edge, oneatop the other, to produce a stur-dy vertical from. Almost likepavers covered with notches anddents, they bear the roughness ofa worked and worn surface. Thissculpture holds the light in a par-ticularly striking way, making theother pieces seem matte by com-parison. -Tracey Hummer

Excerpt from

Personal Structures (GAAP/Cornerhouse Books – 2004)

“The constitution of the subject - or put less abstractly - the formation of personality, is an openlydeclared and quintessential component of the work of several of the artists introduced here. Thisapplies in particular to Johannes Girardoni….it is interesting to see that Johannes Girardoni usesthe expression “primary structure” in passing conversation, and certainly without historicalovertones – and what is above all revealing is the way he uses it: “This element of change hastaken many forms in my work, but a primary structure of it is the juxtaposition of elements thatrelate to one another in the form of a duality.” This means that what is “primary” here is not a pre-set basic form, no unified element, but rather something which is in itself doubled, dialogic ordialectic. It is a coexistent, or rather, an interaction, a concurrent and countervailing interplay oftwo basic materials, namely wood and beeswax. Anyway, these are only “basic materials”because the artist made a personal decision to use them in such a way. Girardoni’s art showswith almost didactic clarity how, due to personal, intuitive choice, a minimalist vocabulary of formscan be endowed with new emotional and evocative qualities which at the same time serve ascatalysts of intensified self-experience - for the artist as well as for the viewer.”

Peter Lodermeyer

Floor Diptych – Ultramarine violetBeeswax, Pigment, Wood13.3” x 59.5” x 10”2003

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2003

ART IN REVIEW

Johannes Girardoni

Stephen Haller Gallery

540 West 26th Street

Chelsea

Through March 11

Spareness and sensuality make

appealing combinations in Johannes

Girardoni's sculpture-paintings.

Minimalist slabs of smooth wax in

rich monochromes, contrastingly

placed in settings of no-color

weathered wood or raw metal, they

are so tactile that the eye feels as well

as sees them.

The seductiveness of this

Austrian-born artist's elegance of

color and surface gains edge from the

plainness of their setting, like a vamp

in denim overalls. Sometimes the

settings incorporate negative space,

like the striking "Seven Silent

Moments." In it, four paired verticals

of wax in a subdued slate gray, each

pair joined by wood strips across top

and bottom, are arranged horizontally

on the wall with gaps between,

providing seven intervals of visual

silence.

More often, color is the prime

attraction, as in "Revelation Open," a

wall tablet in a powerful deep cherry

red, underlined by three well-

seasoned planks. Or an untitled one in

which 17 narrow wax slabs of

brilliant electric blue are laid atop one

another on a shelf of the same

weathered wood. Paint and its

reverberations are enticingly

celebrated here.

GRACE GLUECK