Sunday, January 28, 2007
Jericho and Aperiatur Terra
Anselm Kiefer has some new pieces installed at galleries in Piccadilly which are based around biblical imagery and references:Jericho is installed in the courtyard of the Royal Academy and consists of two towers. They are formed from crude concrete boxes propped up with piles of lead sheets resembling books.
Aperiatur Terra is in the new White Cube Gallery (a short walk from the RA behind Fortnum and Mason) where a palm tree has been uprooted and placed diagonally across the gallery whilst one wall is mounted with his trademark relief 'paintings'. More large scale pieces are shown in the basement. All the pieces have a very earthy feel to them, sometimes combining twigs and branches or taking the form of natural textures. They are overlaid with text which makes references to writers, thinkers and biblical events.
'...Aperiatur terra, is a quotation from the Book of Isaiah, which translates as ‘let the earth be opened’ and continues ‘and bud forth a saviour and let justice spring up at the same time’. These contrasting themes of destruction and re-creation, violent upheaval and spiritual renewal underpin much of Kiefer’s work'
[quote from White Cube flannel panel]


